More Than You can Chew
by nardcopter
Summary: Roman Torchwick just wanted to joke around with a hooded girl who thought he was a hunter. Honest! He didn't think that it'd backfire so badly and land him and Neo a place at Beacon, let alone did he think that he would somehow become the HERO of all things! What kind of sick, twisted world do we live in anyways? This is what happens when you bite off more than you can chew!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Hello all! This is my (commonly-done-but-not-at-all-mandatory) first authors note. This is my first fanfic and I would appreciate your feedback and comments. Needless to say, this is an AU and I plan on changing a lot.**

**This story will focus on Roman and Neo but if they actually had character development instead of being "the dastardly thief" and "the silent psychopath." Maybe they'll live, maybe they'll die, who really knows for sure?**

**Other characters will obviously make appearances and I intend on having more character interactions (and more satirical interactions as well) than in the canon show. For now, please read and review! I look forward to writing this!**

* * *

In an abandoned warehouse in the shady part of Vale there were three people. Well, three people who weren't unconscious at least.

"Alright Neo, that's enough. I'm pretty sure he gets the point by now, don't you think?"

A man in an immaculate white suit and bowler hat stood over another man, whose shirt was currently bloody and torn. Holding said man on the ground was a small girl who―upon first glance— looked like she was but a child, also wearing a white overcoat and had several belts and necklaces on.

The girl, the aforementioned "Neo", looked up at the man in the hat and gave him a sad pout.

"Oh don't give me that look! You know as well as I do that the last thing we need on our hands tonight is a murder in the scond degree!" the man said, not in a manner that conveyed fear at the idea of taking another person's life but more akin to someone who's incredibly annoyed at how late they are to a function they were supposed to have arrived at an hour ago. He held a cane in one hand and a scroll in the other.

"P-Please! I'll get outta town! Me and all my boys! J-just get this little monster offa me!" the rugged and beaten man on the ground pleaded.

Neo looked down on the ruffian—who was currently being held to the ground by her boot—and put on an incredibly affronted look. Her? A monster? What an asshole! She went through all the trouble of _not _killing him and he calls her a monster! A part of her mind said that she should off him for spouting such hurtful nonsense. There was another part of her mind that was probably telling her not to kill him but she was already moving to curbstomp him so it went woefully unnoticed.

As Neo went to stomp the man's head into the asphalt a cane intercepted her boot and she slammed her foot down an inch shy of his face. The beaten man could only turn his head a very tense ninety degrees and look at the side of her boot, which could've crush his head (and probably had crushed many other heads) like putty.

"Damnit Neo, I said no killing tonight! We still have to go see Junior and grab his goons for another dust raid, and Brothers be damned if Junior's men will even be capable of doing anything _at all, _let alone something useful," the posh man said staring at his scroll and looking at the time before stuffing it in his coat with a huff, "finish up with this guy and let's go already! And don't _finish _finish him, okay?"

Neo blew a raspberry at the hatted man and swiftly brought the boot next to the man's head into his temple, rendering him blissfully unconscious. Him and his gang had moved in on some territory that wasn't theirs, and Neo and her partner learned that the only way to truly get rid of these kind of punks was to strap on the ass-kicking boots and the name-taking gloves and send the louts packing.

Neo patted her hands against each other as though getting rid of dust and looked to her friend. She smiled a toothy smile and closed her eyes, looking for all the world like a child who just did something they're very proud of. Her companion could only roll his eyes and give her a pat on the head.

"Yes, yes, I'm very proud of your for beating up all these mooks" He said, waving the cane in his hand theatrically as he turned on his heel, "now let's get moving! I hate being late."

* * *

The two left the old warehouse and walked to the more populated part of town. The night was still young for many party goers and youths, who could be seen ambling around looking for clubs and bars. Neo and her friend were also heading to a club, but this particular club had a certain reputation to it and the line to get in could be seen before the building could.

'Juniors' was a club that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and had immediately become one of the most popular spots for party goers and mobsters alike. The owner Hei Xiong, much better known as Junior, was the most notorious information broker in the criminal underground and "owned" a large amount of the shadier parts of Vales streets. As such, Junior had a door in the back guarded by two men for his customers who weren't exactly buying drinks so that his more seedy business dealings could go unnoticed by the public.

Neo and the man with the cane sauntered in through this backdoor and right up to the bar. When the bartender asked what they wanted Neo simply knocked twice on the counter while the man asked for straight scotch. The barkeep nodded and left the two waiting. Rather than sit impatiently, Neo seemed to have seen two girls she knew and simply left without another word, leaving her companion by himself. He watched her run and bring both girls heads together in a way that, to many, seemed like an attempt to knock the two unconscious. With Neo, the assumption wasn't at all misplaced, but nonetheless the three seemed to immediately start a conversation.

"Ahem," a gruff sound came from behind the man as he watched the three girls, "let em be, huh? You look like a creep watching three young girls at your age."

The hatted man turned around and was greeted by an absolute bear of a man. The man stood at an impressive 6'11'', and was a mass of muscles. He wore a black vest and a red tie and had a beard that was kept in very good condition. He held a scotch in his hand, the barkeep from before walking off towards Neo with a very colorful drink.

"Junior!" the man said as though he were greeting a very close friend, "how ya been buddy? Keeping it clean here?"

"Roman, shut up and stop acting like I didn't see you a week ago when asked for my men," Junior groused, crossing his arms, "you're a real piece of work sometimes, ya know that?"

Roman Torchwick; man of many talents and wearer of guyliner (not that he would admit it) and a renowned thief and criminal in the city of Vale, rolled his eyes and leaned in towards Junior.

"Come on Junior, Neo and I just roughed up those punks in the old warehouse for you! Where's the appreciation? The praise?" Roman questioned as though confused as to why Junior hadn't welcomed him with open arms and admiration.

"I appreciate that Neo doesn't talk as much as you and I praise the Brothers that I don't have to see you every day," Junior said with an incredibly flat expression, "let's just get this done with Roman."

"Ugh, no wonder you're still single. No tact? No pillow talk? Where's the love? The passion?" Roman exclaimed, "Junior you need to enjoy life more and relax!"

"I'll relax when you're not in my club on a Friday at the busiest time of night!" Junior growled, having already been fed up from having to deal with his annoying (and sometimes horny) customers and his sub par employees, "and to top it off, you're late!"

"Fine, fine, just give me the men and let me finish my drink and I'll be history. That okay with you big bear?" Roman asked, sipping at his drink. Junior simply rubbed his temples and told him the men he asked for were in the back. Roman raised his glass in a toast before walking off and waving Neo to him. She nodded and was by his side in a second. As they walked away from the bar a blonde girl in a brown jacket and biker shorts gave them a sidelong glance. The two ignored it and continued on. After all, there was business to do.

* * *

Having finished conducting business and giving Juniors goons a meeting place and time, Roman and Neo departed from the club and began their journey to their safehouse. Roman reached to grab his scroll from his coat but came up empty. He checked the other side.

Also empty.

"Ah shit, Neo I lost my scroll," Roman sighed as Neo pointed at him and put her hand in front of her mouth as though laughing, "yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Remember we have important shit on that thing?"

Neo stopped and glowered at that, realizing that they'd have to go back and find it before it got stolen by some street rat or other unsavory party like the police. She sighed along with him and the two turned to backtrack to their previous locations, knowing that it's be about another two or so hours before they could finally go home.

"Um, e-excuse me? Mister?"

They turned to see a small girl, certainly no older than Neo, standing slightly hunched in on herself and twiddling her fingers, though something was held in one of her hands. She was dressed in a strange black and red goth outfit. She had a red cloak that was very well-worn but clearly loved and taken care of. Most notable to the two criminals however was the scroll in one hand and the strange compact device on her hip that was, without a doubt, a weapon. A hunter's weapon.

A huntress-in-training had their highly sensitive scroll and information.

Which meant she probably had a team nearby.

Neo activated her semblance, leaving an image of herself still facing away from the girl and began to slowly approach the girl while stealthed, her intent clear.

Surprise, retrieve, subdue.

However, before she could pounce the girl in red coughed, still waiting for them to respond. Roman took lead to distract her for Neo.

"Is there something I can do for you kid?" he asked, acting as innocent as possible.

"U-uhm... W-well I uh have this," she indicated the scroll by shaking it, clearly showing she knew what it was and why it was so important. She clearly thought she was acting innocent by stuttering and pretending to be nervous. Ha! As if!

"A-and I know you dropped it," now she was taunting them too!? What a terrible nuisance!

"S-so I uh, well—I mean uhm..." she was about to call her teammates for the ambush! Roman and Neo tensed, and with a nod from the gentleman thief Neo jumped to strike down the huntress—

"YOUDROPPEDTHISABOUTAMILEBACKANDIPICKEDITUPFORYOUI'MSORRYFORTHEINCONVENIENCE!" she shouted in one breath, breathing a sigh of relief once she was done.

Neo's eyes widened upon hearing this and she changed directions at the last second, having dived at the girl from behind and crashed into her own semblance making it seem as though she simply fell over.

"Um, are you ok?" the girl in red asked.

Neo got up and dusted herself off, trying to hide the small tint of embarrassment on her face and nodded. Neo then turned her back once again to the girl and started frantically waving her hands around.

"Okay I get it! My bad!" he huffed as he turned to the gothic girl, "uh, thanks for finding this for me Red. You don't seem to know who I am however," Roman said as he walked towards the girl.

The girl in turn stepped forward without a care in the world and held out the lost device cheerily, smiling a small, sheepish smile.

"I, uh, was raised on Patch and haven't been to the city much so I'm sorry that I don't know you," she finished with an awkward and shy laugh that petered out at the end.

Roman reached out tentatively at first, still not believing that this girl didn't know him (Him! The most handsome and clever thief in Vale!) and grabbed the scroll from her hand. After he had it she simply put her hand down and stepped back. Roman huffed a small laugh before Neo elbowed him in the ribs (little bastard) and nodded her head towards the short girl.

"Ugh, yeah I know, I'm not mannerless you know?" Roman said as he looked back toward the now nicknamed 'Red' and tipped his hat with a little bow, "thanks for returning this Red, we just worried sick about finding it!" Neo rolled her eyes. Even genuine gratitude from Roman sounded like he just stole something from you and was laughing at you for letting it happen.

"It's no problem! You two would probably do the same!" Red said waving off the thanks and rubbing the back of her head.

"_Probably not," _both crooks thought after she had said so. They were about to turn tail and leave but before they could Red asked them another question.

"Are um, are you two hunters?" she asked looking... excited? Not wanting to deal with any chance of problems Roman did one of the things he did best; he lied.

"Yes we are actually! We just came back from a mission to uh... take out some goons in the seedier parts of town and I guess my scroll fell out during all the action!" Roman explained, Neo nodding along and winking at the end. Hopefully that would end any questioning the girl had.

"C-can I..." Red mumbled off at the end, poking her index fingers together. Roman groaned, and waved his hand in a 'get on with it' motion.

"Can I get your autographs!?" she exclaimed, her eyes now alight and her hands near her face. Roman swore he almost cracked a tooth from how hard he slammed his jaw shut to stop himself from laughing. This was absolutely unbelievable! He looked to Neo and she was just barely keeping herself standing, having no shame in silently laughing and bent over herself with joy. There was no way he could pass up this opportunity!

"Well of course you can!" Roman chuckled, Neo nodding at an incredible speed. The girl squealed, _squealed _at the prospect of his and Neo's autographs. She whipped around and before either could blink she held up a piece of paper and a pen to his face. Huh, fast kid.

Roman signed the flashiest and most pristine signature that he'd ever signed, and topped it off with a little drawing of a bowler hat over the 'R' in Roman. Neo then took the piece of paper and put her signature and then put a kiss right on top, leaving a light pink lipstick stain and drew a small ice cream cone at the end of her full name 'Neo Politan' then handed it back to Red. The hooded girl excitedly looked over the page and giggled at their little doodles and flair. She then read the names aloud.

"Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan? Wow, your names even sound like hunter names!" she said amazed at the two. By this point Roman's aura was the only thing keeping him from biting his tongue clean off and Neo had given up on staying upright and was on the ground again. Red looked at her with concern and then up to him with a questioning glance. He simply waved it off and she shrugged.

"Well kid, it's been great but Neo and I really gotta get going," Roman said, helping Neo up and walking past the girl, "if you keep trying hard, you may become great hunters like me and Neo here!" he may have been milking it but really, when would he get this chance again?

"You really think so!?" Red asked, a twinkle in her eyes that just screamed 'say it's true!'

"I know so!" And just like that Neo had fallen over again, almost bringing Roman with her. Red just pumped her fists and smiled making Neo laugh harder.

"My name is Ruby, by the way! Ruby Rose!" the now named Ruby said with respect, even going so far as to salute! That was enough, Roman finally bent over and weezed. It was too damn good to be true!

"Are you okay Mr. Torchwick?" Ruby questioned worriedly, making Roman weez harder. _Cannot give this away! _He thought.

"I-it's nothing," he said gasping for breath and hiding the weezing as part of a coughing fit, "I smoke and this just happens sometimes." That wasn't a full on lie, sometimes when he was taking a drag of one of his cigars he would breath in the wrong way and start hacking up a storm, much to Neo's chagrin.

"Oh! Like my uncle Qrow! He drinks his happy juice and it makes him fall over a lot!" Ruby said with confidence, as though she had uncovered a great secret, "I guess all those ads on TV were right!" This girl was the gift that keeps on giving.

"Ahem, well. Farewell and goodnight Red! Remember to keep on keeping on!" Roman shouted as he and Neo began walking off. Ruby shouted a 'goodbye Mister Torchwick and Neo' before they rounded the corner and could finally breathe normally. That was the best laugh he'd had in a long, long time. He really needed it too after all the hell Cinder was putting him through.

"Damn that was gold," he sighed as Neo nodded her agreement, "but we still have that shop to rob tomorrow and we can't be relaxing now." Neo deflated a bit at the prospect of work. Originally she wasn't going to rob stores with Roman, but increases hunter activity around the city had them both a little on edge about getting caught by the wrong kind of people. After all, Cinder said she wouldn't bail them out if they got caught by hunters and arrested.

"Relax Neo, it'll all be fine, we'll make it out of this like always," Roman comforted, patting her on the head, "now let's go get some rest. It was a long day today." She nodded and the two walked off to relax and prepare for the job. A job that would seem so normal to them, and yet would change everything.

* * *

Ruby walked away from Roman and Neo. They were so cool! Not only were they super nice and gave her their autographs, but they were always smiling! That's the kind of huntress she wanted to be! The kind that could always smile, no matter what! Like there's some joke that just keeps getting funnier and it just makes you laugh more!

As Ruby was lost in her thoughts, the windows of a nearby club exploded outwards, a wave of heat flowing out from the building followed by a charred but living man crashing into the ground in front of her. The man, almost seven feet tall, groaned something about 'karma' and then passed out. A figure opened the double doors, only for them to fall off their hinges and topple over. The person shrugged, moving their luxurious blonde hair out of their face and dusting off their brown jacket and—wait a minute...

"Yang?" Ruby asked. It was definitely her sister. Standing strong until she noticed who it was that called her name.

"Ruby!? What are you doing out here!?" the blonde asked, nervous that her sister would ask questions she didn't have the answer to.

"Well, I just returned a scroll to this really cool huntsman and huntress, and I think the huntress was his daughter or niece or something, but they were super nice and― hey wait a minute, nuh uh! What are you doing!?" Ruby asked realizing she had almost gotten sidetracked recounting the last hour or so.

"Ruby, please, _please_ don't tell dad about this," Yang pleaded, going so far as to clasp her hands together.

"Hmm, I dunno..." Ruby trailed off looking apprehensive. She stuck the tip of her boot to the ground and pivoted her leg off it back and forth. _Three... Two... One..._

"I'll buy you cookies at the bakery nearby!" Yang bargained, knowing that it'd work. _It always works_.

"Okay!" Ruby exclaimed, acting as though she wouldn't have kept the secret regardless (_because come on, she's my sister!_). Ruby laughed internally, knowing that her trick would work. _It always works._

"Well, c'mon then Rubes, the bakery's close by. You can tell me about these hunters in the meantime" Yang proposed, glad that she didn't have to worry about her dad finding out about her club smashing.

"Okay! Well, their names were Roman Torchwick and Neo! And they..." Ruby kept talking but Yang was trying to think of where she'd heard that name before. _I swear he's famous for something. Damn, growing up on Patch really put Rubes and I out of the loop. _Well, it didn't matter. Her sister found something to be excited for and that was enough for her.

As they walked to the bakery, neither seemed to notice the wanted poster with a mugshot of a ginger haired man holding a sign that read 'Roman Torchwick'.

* * *

**And that's the first chapter! I know it's short, but I'll do what I can to make them longer in the future! For now, please comment and follow! Don't be afraid to tell me what you think so far! For now thanks for reading! And have a lovely time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all! I'm back with another chapter of 'More Than You can Chew' and I'm happy to say that I have A LOT planned for this story! While normally I like exposition I will admit that I won't spend a vast amount of time describing characters because sometimes that just becomes a nuisance and a hassle.**

**On another note I got my first reviews! I don't know if they'd appreciate being named so I'll leave them anonymous to be polite but you all gave me great feedback and brought up some important points that I'll be sure to touch upon.**

**Also, big point people pointed out, Neo's last name is Politan which I actually didn't know. Back when she was first introduced, all I had to go off of was her concept art which had her name listed as just 'Neopolitan', hence the confusion. I'll go back and fix it where I can, but I've made sure it's right in this part and onwards!**

**Keep in mind this is a humor story as well so some things will get a little convenient so to speak (though I promise it won't be completely random because that's both lazy and boring). Otherwise, enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review!**

* * *

The art of thievery was one that not everybody has the stones for. It requires the ability to be discreet, quiet, and most of all; tactful. Roman Torchwick wouldn't have it any other way.

"What are you idiots doing! I mean seriously, leading with a gun to the face!? That's just bad show!" Roman shouted at Juniors goons. One of the guys had walked up while he was giving the shopkeeper the 'don't worry about your stuff getting stolen' spiel and stuck his handgun right in the old man's face! Who starts a robbery with that!? Neo had thought it was funny and was still smiling as he grumbled around the front of the shop. He had at least saved face and quickly rolled with it so as not to look like a fool. It was clear on the men's faces that Roman's whining was getting on their nerves.

"You see Neo? This is why we shouldn't have open carry! Anyone can just walk into anywhere with any kind of weapon!" Roman complained whilst he swung his cane back and forth, "I mean what does the council even actually do!?"

"T-they mediate public feuds and mandate authorities to certain codes of conduct," the elderly shopkeeper said from behind the counter, hands still up in surrender, "other than that, most laws were made in accordance with the public and the huntsman academies."

"Wait, really?" Roman asked, Neo quirking her head to the side also somewhat surprised by the information. The shopkeeper nodded and pointed to a plaque on the wall. It read 'Proud partner of Beacon academy' followed by a list of legal bindings and signed by Headmaster Ozpin himself at the bottom.

"Well I'll be a son of a bitch, that's just a barbaric way of doing business isn't it?" Roman noted as Neo nodded along. The old man shrugged it off with the response of 'that's life' which was ironic considering they were currently robbing him of his livelihood.

Before the posh criminal could continue the conversation with the other man, one of the goons went flying through the front window with all the grace of a clown at a funeral. He and Neo shared a nonplussed look and after meeting each others eyes both looked to the shopkeeper, who simply shrugged and shook his head. When they looked back towards the window it was to see a red blur fly through and drop kick the same goon who had been thrown in the first place. Before Roman could even say anything, all the mobsters were running to try and do something about their assailant leaving Roman, Neo, and the shopkeeper as the only three people in the store.

"So what exactly just happened?" Roman inquired, not really expecting an answer seeing as the old man had already conveyed that he didn't know and Neo knew about as much as him. Groaning loudly at yet another thing gone wrong Roman steeled himself while Neo simply readied her umbrella. The two ran out the door to put down the new pest that these idiots couldn't even lay a finger on.

"Okay you trash! What do you think you're—" Roman stopped upon who he saw, and directed Neo's attention to their attacker. Neo looked where Roman was so stunned and upon seeing who it was a large grin broke out across her face. Roman nudged Neo's side and gestured away with his head. She nodded and the two were about to leave when suddenly the attacker noticed them.

"Mister Torchwick! Neo! You're just in time, help me fight of these criminals!" Ruby shouted as she kicked one of the goons clean in the face, "you guys can totally show me some pointers!"

Roman knew how to plan for a lot of different potholes. The police show up? Easy, no sweat. The shopkeeper has a gun under the counter? Nothing an unlucky and unsuspecting goon can't block for him while he finds a place to think. But this? This was an extremely unlikely event that had seemingly had the stars aligning to make it happen. Who would have known his lying may have backfired on him!? Everyone knows that lying is always plans A through D and then it's also plan J again just in case it still has a chance of working.

"Uh, hey Red! We just got a call from uh, some neighbors who heard the commotion!" Roman exclaimed as heroically as he could, Neo looking at him in disbelief. She quickly began throwing her arms around in rapid motions towards him.

_What the hell are you doing!? We can't lie our way out of a lie like this! We should just knock her out and book it! _Neo signed, her hands a blur. Roman had become proficient just so he could keep up with her over the years. He leaned in and whispered to her.

"Look, the way I see it we help her 'fight off' all of Juniors men, let them get away with the dust so we can regroup later, and walk away before she gets a chance to question the shopkeep," Roman explained as Neo nodded along apprehensively. He was about to tell her to pull her punches and avoid doing any lasting damage when something began rapid approaching from his peripheral. Out of reflex he swung his cane in a horizontal arc slamming it into the incoming object with an incredibly loud crack. Too late did he notice that said object was actually one of Junior's goons who had been sent flying towards him by Red.

"Wow! Mister Torchwick you didn't even have to look this way or stop your conversation to get that guy!" Ruby shouted, having what appeared to be a _good time _beating the ever loving shit out of the gangsters. The other men look at Roman like he was a mad man, some even insulting him! Them! Insulting him! The absolute nerve!

He had to calm down. It was an honest mistake, he just had to grin and bear it and he'd be fine. Just like always—

"What the hell do you think you're doing wick dick!?" one of the goons shouted. Roman took a deep, deep breath and exhaled slowly, appearing almost as though in a meditative state.

"Neo change of plans," he stated curtly, pulling up his cane and, without a second of hesitation, shooting a flare right into the chest of the goon that had shouted that last barb. The goon went flying back, slamming into a ladder and denting the bars that made it up. The rest of the men, already pissed from Roman's previous ranting, each saw the threat for what it was and promptly turned and began to fire at Torchwick and Neo. Before Ruby could warn them to move, they shattered like glass, before abruptly appearing behind the three men.

"Now then," Roman started, rolling his shoulders, "what's this I heard about robbing a dust store?"

* * *

Neo skipped happily to where Roman and Ruby were standing. Somewhere along the brutal beatdown that had just occurred, Roman simply said 'to hell with it' and let Neo have her fun while he made sure Red didn't run away with any possible connection between he, Neo, and the robbery. Neo had gotten a little too into it. She didn't kill any of them, hardly even maimed any of them, but the following carnage couldn't have even been called a fight. Ruby was practically shaking.

"Uh, Red? You alright? You didn't drink any coffee or anything before this right?" Roman asked, worrying that her semblance might be some sort of energetic self destruct. There was no way he was getting caught in a blast of cookies, bullets, and hormones. Not again, Vacuo was enough.

"That... Was... AWESOME!" She yelled before disappearing from Roman's side in a burst of rose petals. For a brief moment she was gushing over Neo and then she was back in front of him talking about how she'd have never known his cane was a gun, and from there she was all over the place.

"Neo, I'm scared, what do we do? Little girls don't do this. You didn't do this. Where's the off switch?" Roman asked, completely bewildered by the absolute anomaly that was the red hurricane in front of him. Neo looked fairly confused too, with a hint of amusement, but more so confusion.

"What is going on here!?" an incredibly angry and hostile voice shouted from down the road. The three looked over to see an incredibly stern looking blonde woman in a black pencil skirt and white blouse stomp over. In heels no less! But that's not what was the most surprising thing was. The biggest shock came from the fact that it was Glynda Fucking Goodwitch.

"Holy shit that's, Glynda Goodwitch," Roman stated, knowing that he and Neo had now overstayed their welcome and prepared to leave, "well Red, we'll see you around, don't talk to strangers, don't eat yellow snow, stay away from guys named Keith," Torchwick stated as he and Neo turned and prepared to flee using her semblance.

Only neither of them turned. Actually, neither of them moved a single muscle at all. And they were floating.

"Well Neo, it's been good," Roman said casually, fully embracing the end that was to be dealt to him. Neo on the other hand was still trying to struggle and escape. Ah, a fighter to the end.

"Roman Torchwick, who I presume is Neo Politan, as headmistress of Beacon Academy, I hereby declare you under arrest," Goodwitch stated, that ever present furious look on her face only deepening in rage.

"Don't you have to read us our rights or something?" Roman asked trying to find some way out of this terrible situation.

"No. Most laws are made in accordance with the public and huntsman academies, which means Beacon gets first and final say in any matter it is directly involved with," the witch said, the scowl never leaving her face. Roman blinked at that. Well, the old man did say that the academies had a lot of public domain. He didn't think it was this much domain, but when one takes into consideration that Beacon trains hundreds of kids to become the next generation of the kingdoms protectors, it makes a bit more sense why they can just make their own laws.

Just as Roman and Neo thought the situation couldn't get worse, Ruby had to make her own argument.

"W-wait! You can't arrest them! They're hunters! They helped me fight these guys!" Ruby shouted, clearly terrified of the disciplinarian that stood before her, "they've been taking out gangs in the shady parts of Vale!"

"Young one," the deputy said, even just those words said in her harsh tone seemed to knock all the confidence out of the little reaper, "do you know who these two are?"

"Hunters?" Ruby asked more than answered.

"Criminals. Killers and thieves," the witch stated, "these two are the most notorious criminals in the entire kingdom of Vale!"

Ruby looked at them. Well all jokes have to end somewhere. Looks like this one—

"But they said they're huntsman!"

Just kept going. Seriously this girl was a riot!

"Young one, this man is the biggest liar in the kingdom, and perhaps even on the continent of Sanus!" Goodwitch yelled, clearly having been fed up before arriving here. Perhaps it had something to do with it being ten at night on what had to be the deputy's last day of vacation before students both arrived and returned. Not to mention she must be swamped with paperwork.

_On second thought, maybe death isn't the worst that could happen_, Roman thought.

Somewhere along the argument of Ruby trying to convince the woman that they weren't bad guys Goodwitch had simply picked up the girl and was now dragging all three to the nearest police station. Ruby looked to them, hope evident in her eyes. Well, who was he to break an aspiring hunters dreams?

"Don't worry kid, this is normal for Neo and I, you'll be fine. We get confused for criminals all the time, but really it's because there's things we can't just let other people in on," Roman said, Glynda had long since started tuning out all sounds around her and didn't seem to hear his lies, "we'll get this settled before you know it!"

Ruby looked calmed with the notion and tried to relax. Poor kid was probably going to get arrested as an accomplice. Ah well, such is life. She'll probably be fine in prison. She's friendly enough, maybe she'll find a gang to join!

_Well, I suppose the night is still young, who knows what could happen, _Roman thought. He looked over to see if Neo had made any progress on her struggling but when he turned to her she had fallen asleep. He tsked and rolled his eyes. Now all he could do was play the waiting game.

* * *

It was really quiet in the police station. Rightfully so, mind you, but that didn't make it any less awkward.

Sat handcuffed to a bench was Roman Torchwick, who was currently sat between two young girls. One was asleep, clearly not intending on waking up anytime soon and had sprawled out horizontally on the bench, pushing her boots into Torchwick's side. The other girl was currently asking every officer and perpetrator that passed by about the weapons that they were carrying with them and it was starting to wear down a lot of the officers nerves.

All the officers gave the bench wide berth, for any authority worth their salt knew that Roman Torchwick could scheme his way out of anything if you let him. By maximizing distance and leaving him handcuffed to a bench, there was a lot less he could work with.

Glynda walked from the back of the station and glared them all down. Neo remained asleep, Ruby wilted like a rose, and Roman winked. Her growl was not quiet, and the officers moved to give her a wide berth too.

"You. Follow," the witch commanded while staring Ruby down. It was certainly more of a demand and less of a question. Goodwitch never seemed to leave any room for argument. Ruby looked to Roman and he gave her a confident grin and a thumbs up. She did her best to return the smile and sent a thumbs up in return. Yeah, she'd do great in jail.

In the meantime while Red was taken in for questioning Roman took to thinking. Not like any of the cops were trying to start a conversation anytime soon, and his only other companion was currently comatose and digging her heels into his kidney.

His thoughts were on a certain woman he'd recently gotten involved with. Brothers know he'd been thinking about her since their first meeting. It was hot to say the least.

Mind you, this is no romantic meetup or secret lover he was thinking of. She was on his mind because she literally threatened to set him on fire the first time they met. Hot indeed.

Cinder Fall had a presence that demanded your full attention. Roman had been unfortunate enough to be _too _good for her liking, and she'd gone and tracked him down like an animal! The meeting was so short but so memorable.

"_I require your services," a true beauty said, slowly moving her hair over her shoulder._

"_Prostitutes are a few blocks down, you got the wrong guy," Roman said, taking a drag of his cigar. At least Neo was laughing at that one. The kid with the silver hair too. His green haired companion seemed to be ready to kill however. How cute._

"_No, I'm looking for the thief known as Roman Torchwick. And I need you to run some errands for me," the beauty claimed, looking him in the eyes the whole time, her features never wavering._

"_I'm no errand boy okay beautiful? I'm more of a freelance kind of guy," Roman said taking his cigar out and holding it off to the side, "you're gonna have to find someone else._

_Just then, his cigar felt hot. Really hot. He wasn't holding backwards somehow, was he? When he looked at the hand holding what was once his cigar, all he saw was a small ball of fire._

"_Fuck me!" he shouted, dropping the flame to the ground and stomping it out. When he looked up, the beauty's eyes had a new look in them. A predatory one._

"_You _will _work for me," she stated, holding up a hand as a new ball of fire sparked to life, flickering across the room, "and if you don't, or you cross me, then I'll be sure to burn more than a cigar next time. Are we in agreement?"_

_Neo looked him in the eyes. The look was one he knew but didn't see often. The message was a clear one; we can't win this fight. Not yet at least._

Ah, precious memories.

Truly, the one thing bothering him most was that it seemed like Cinder wasn't making any moves to get him and Neo out of this mess! Needed his services his left boot! He nudged Neo in the calf. She stirred and cracked an eye open at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. Care to get us out of here?" Roman asked impatiently, tired of being handcuffed and getting his kidney abused. Neo looked at him, then looked to her own wrist. She had also been cuffed to the bench. She looked back at him and shook her head, wiggling the chains of her cuffs to make a little jingling noise.

Roman groaned as he leaned back. He, the handsome gentleman thief of Vale, got caught, his wrist hurt from the handcuffs, and his only plan of escape didn't work! How could this situation get any worse!?

"You two are up for questioning. A very important person wants to see you," Glynda said as she walked back in the main lobby.

"Why didn't I just become a farmer?" Roman asked, to nobody. At least corn never talked back to you!

Goodwitch had taken the liberty of picking them up and practically throwing them into the interrogation room. Neo landed gracefully, even while cuffed, while Roman hit a wall and toppled to the floor like a sack of potatoes. As he tried to groan off the pain, he got up slowly.

He noticed Red was still in the room, sat in a steel chair and giving him a nervous wave. For someone who was (presumably) being interrogated for the first time, she looked less nervous and more like somebody who just one the lottery. What the hell happened while he and Neo waited!? Speaking of, he looked to see Neo, stuck frozen in shock. To say he was confused would be an understatement. Neo was never this still, you'd have to really surprise her if you wanted to—

"Roman Torchwick, I presume?" a wizened and older voice asked. Roman followed Neo's eyes to the voice and nearly shit a brick.

"You can't be serious," Torchwick groaned, nearly falling over. It was like getting struck by lightning on a sunny day.

The owner of the wise voice merely raised an eyebrow and seemed to relax his entire body a bit. He had white hair, and wore small round glasses and way too much green. Much like Roman himself, he also carried a cane.

"I believe you have some explaining to do," Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy stated, staring him down and in right into the depths of his soul.

"What the hell did you tell him Red!?" Roman asked the young girl who looked sheepish and scratched her head. This kid was as bad as Neo!

"Well..." she began to trail off.

* * *

"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked the young Rose. To him this was a steal! Qrows niece, Summer and Taiyang's daughter, _and _she inherited the silver eyes? It was like winning the lottery or going on an 'away' mission to the beaches of Vacuo while the bullhead 'mysteriously' breaks down, leaving an unfortunate headmaster to simply wait on the beach for rescue that is _days _away. Glynda never did have the patience to ask how that happened every two years.

"More than anything," Ruby said, determined to be a huntress and help people! That's what she had her heart set on!

Ozpin looked to Glynda, who just grunted and rolled her eyes and head away from him. He then looked back to her, relaxed even while being on the receiving end of the witch's glares.

"Well okay," he said with finality. Wait what

WHAT!?

"REALLY!?" Ruby shouted, nearly hopping out of her seat to do a little dance. Ozpin nodded and she let out a shameless 'woohoo' of victory. This had to be a dream! But it felt so real when Goodwitch stared her down and levitated her places, and those cookies were definitely real!

"On to the second part of this interrogation however," Ozpin said, and she immediately froze with a 'huh?' wondering what he meant.

"You were in the company of some rather... notorious individuals," Ozpin began, "it is to my understanding, based on what I've been told, that you were under the impression that Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan were hunters?"

"Well... They are, aren't they?" Ruby asked. She knew for a fact that they were good guys at least since they beat up bad guys! Beating up bad guys means you are a good guy! That's just science!

"They told me they've been clearing out gangs in Vale!" Ruby continued, "I even saw where they may have fought some guys! It was at an old broken down building!"

Ozpin and Glynda looked to each other, eyebrows raised. That certainly didn't sound like Torchwick. But there had been a decrease in gang activity and drug rings in the old industrial district of Vale. Very interesting indeed.

"Glynda, bring them in. I would like to question them as well."

* * *

Damnit! Why did he make himself sound so great! And why would Ozpin invite a fifteen year old to join his school!?

"Now then, Mr. Torchwick, Ms. Politan, Ms. Rose here has said that you claimed you were hunters on a breach and clear mission in Vale," Ozpin started, both men staring each other down and neither giving anything up to the other, "however, it is popular information here that you are a well known criminal, and have been for quite a few years. Care to explain what we may be missing here?"

This was it. Ozpin was staring, Glynda was scowling, Ruby looked like a confused puppy, and Neo was giving her the patented 'don't fuck up' eyes. If there was ever a time to shit the bed, now is the absolute worst time. He had to put all his lying powers to the test. Lying was like cooking in a lot of ways. You have your dish, the lie, and you sprinkle a little something on top to really sell it as your own, in this case tiny bits of truth.

"Well," Roman began, Neo covering her eyes already knowing Romans tells of when he's about to tell an absolutely royal lie, "Neo and I actually _are_ huntsman!"

The room became just a little more tense.

"You see, I got my license from Shade Academy over in Vacuo," Not necessarily a lie. He had actually gone to Shade for about three years but left in the forth to pursue a life of thrills, not sacrifice. He even had a fake huntsman ID that he forged while he was there so that he could get into certain Vacuoan lady bars! It was his first forgery and the work was kind of shoddy, but it never failed to get him into places! And huntsman got 'special services' not that he was dumb or desparate enough to try and get that, but still, it was a pretty solid investment of his time to make that ID. He still carried it around as a good luck charm.

"Neo here is my daughter, adopted, mind you, and I've been training her the same way they trained me. I'm training her in Vale because Vacuo isn't the most welcoming of places for young individuals," also both not technically full on lies. He was pretty much Neo's only family, and while they did meet in Vacuo, it was everyone's dream in that kingdom to leave as soon as possible.

Ruby looked at him with even more admiration. _At least somebody does! _Roman thought. Ozpin had his eyes closed in thought, giving nothing away. What was truly shocking however was that _Glynda Goodwitch _was nodding, the intense scowl gone, replaced by a neutral resting bitch face.

"It... makes sense," Goodwitch claimed. At that he nearly felt his soul leave his body. By the looks of it, Ozpin and Neo felt similar.

"Glynda... What?" Ozpin asked, completely floored that Glynda, his secretary Glynda, the same Glynda who hid his coffee after the third cup every day, was believing something said by Roman Torchwick.

"Professor, you know as well as I do that things are done differently in Vacuo," Glynda responded, calm but resolute, "while I don't condone his undeniable illegal activities, his known fighting style and methods are in line with those of Shade Academy." And she would know! She was the goddamn combat instructor of the most renowned combat school on Remnant!

"You... Are not wrong," AND OZPIN WAS AGREEING WITH HER NOW TOO!

The two professors looked to each other, and then back at Torchwick.

"ID?" Glynda asked and held her hand out. Crap. This was it. It worked on bouncers, strippers, and bartenders, please let it work now!

He took out that fake ID. His first real crime. Forgery of a huntsman ID was no minor offence. You wouldn't get the death penalty, but fines were steep and the jail time was severe. He handed the old and worn card to the deputy. _There's no way that old busted up thing will work! I'm about to get me and Neo locked up forever!_

"It checks out," Glynda said, handing it back to him in an almost respectful manner. Glynda Goodwitch handed him, _him, _Roman Torchwick_, _something in a close enough to respectful way! Neo was actively drying the sweat that had accumulated throughout his lying spree, and breathing in a deep breath of relief.

"We apologize for this, and we will even pardon your less severe crimes, if you'll allow us to," Ozpin stated, looking actually apologetic. Not only that, but he said he'd clear them of everything but the murders! That's a B plus win at least! No way in hell he was passing this up!

"I would very much appreciate that actually," Roaman said, putting on his best humble face he could, "thank you very much for your kindness." _Score!_

"However we cannot simply pardon the extortion," Ozpin stated. _Shit!_

"Or the grand theft," Glynda continued, a glare once again present on her face (though nowhere near as intense as before).

"Or the, how should I say, unwarranted use of force both lethal and non lethal," Ozpin grimaced, knowing full well how some of the people who had the unfortunate chance of fighting Neo on a bad day looked afterwards, "for that, I'm afraid that you may very well still see a large amount of jail time."

_Ah shit! We were so close to getting out of this! _Roman thought as he winced a bit and Neo began to move in a way that he knew meant she was about to activate her semblance. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, knowing it may only reveal their lie if they ran now.

The other three patrons in the room, however, thought him putting his hand on her shoulder was a sign of emotion. An adoptive father, only trying to teach his daughter in the only way he knows how, only to get them both sent to prison. Oh it was a dreadful tearjerker. Ruby was almost actually crying, and Glynda at least looked somber. Ozpin however...

"There is a potential work around," Ozpin stated. Glynda immediately turn the glare back up from a ten to at least a sixty, and it was all directed at Ozpin. The headmaster held up a hand and she huffed and made a pouring motion. To the two criminals and the young Rose, this meant nothing, to Ozpin it was clear; _you're down to two cups a day._

"Ahem, at any rate, Mr. Torchwick," Ozpin began again, addressing him, "would you say you're the best at what you do?"

Him? The best? Was that even a question?

"I most certainly would!" Roman proudly announced. There was nobody better!

"I see. And your daughter, we are aware of the... damage she is capable of. How old is she?" Ozpin inquired. Huh, that's a hit or miss. He didn't really know how old Neo was when he found her, only that that had been about twelve years ago.

"Uh, I dunno, Neo? What like, seventeen, eighteen at most?" He asked, Neo tilting her head back and forth before shrugging and nodding. Ozpin hummed.

"Well then. I have a proposition for you," the headmaster stated, _Uh oh, _"given your status, the only way I would be able to pardon all of your crimes is if you were a partner of Beacon Academy."

A partner of Beacon Academy? Yeah, right, like he'd ever even get the chance! Neo evidently thought the same if the way her face twisted at the mans words were any indication.

"That being said, I can offer your daughter a spot at my school and you yourself the position as a huntsman on duty," Ozpin proposed. Wait. What?

"Ahuh?" Roman so eloquently questioned.

"As a huntsman on duty you wouldn't be a professor, but you would help facilitate combat lessons and be on standby to go on missions so that we don't become understaffed sending our professors out instead," Ozpin explained, "As for Ms. Politan, she would join the incoming first years under a special inclusion. That way, you may continue to train as you see fit, provided you cease with the illegal activity. You'd also both have to live on campus as is with all student and faculty."

No way.

There was no fucking way.

He looked to Neo. Neo looked to him.

This went against everything that they were and everything they did. It would be putting on a mask and disguising themselves as their natural enemies! And what about working for Cinder!

_If you don't, or you cross me, I'll burn more than a cigar next time._

She'd try and find them and put them down like animals.

But if they suddenly disappeared to the one place she couldn't attack? Surrounded by hunters and hunters-in-training no less?

Well this one was a no brainer!

"We graciously accept your most kind proposition Headmaster Ozpin," Roman proclaimed, bowing with a flourish. Neo looked at him as if he'd gone completely insane. They were criminals! They didn't 'do good' and 'help others for the sake of helping because _that's our job_'! They stole and cheated! She looked at him to see if he'd tell her anything. He looked back and signed; short but firm, she understood completely.

_Don't worry kid, it's for the best._

She bit her lip and nodded, turning to face Ozpin and sticking her hand out. Ozpin chuckled and shook her hand, a look of realisation on his face.

"One of our professors can also communicate in sign language, so rest assured that your daughter will get full treatment at Beacon," Ozpin assured. Yeah, because that was what they were worrying about.

Before Roman could ask what was next Ruby jumped and hugged Neo, much to the multi colored girls chagrin. She attempted escape but found that the little rose had quite the grip strength. She thrash about looking at him to help her. He simply shrugged and gestured to 'just go with it'.

"Oh Neo! We get to go to Beacon together! We'll be best friends! And we can hang out! And we can talk about weapons and you can meet my sister Yang!" Red went on and on, Neo deflating with every option added to the list, that is, until...

"And we can get desert like cookies, and cake, and ice cream together!" Ruby finished, finally letting Neo go, but she made one fatal error. _She's yours now Red_.

At the mention of ice cream Neo had frozen and turned to look the reaper over. When she was done, she nodded in satisfaction and took her turn to get the Rose in a hold, the young girl laughing at her enthusiasm. Roman turned back to Ozpin and Glynda, the former looking on in amusement and the latter looking on in a mix of disappointment and fear for the current generation.

"So," Roman began, "when do we start?"

Ozpin took a sip from his mug, a euphoric look in his eyes for a brief moment, he then looked Roman dead in the eyes and with any hint of guilt or sorrow gave his response.

"Tomorrow."

_Oh Brothers I hate my life._

* * *

**And that's a wrap! Damn, I went on a lot longer with this than I meant to. Sorry! Long chapter is long, whatcha gonna do?**

**So Roman and Neo get into Beacon! And now the REAL story can start! Please remember to review and follow! Until next time have a lovely time! **

**And remember not to bite off more than you can chew!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Back again with more MTYcC! Great news, we have cover art now! It was done by my lovely partner. If you want to see more of her work, follow her on Instagram b0iled_egg (that's a zero not an 'O').**

**The reason I'm uploading so much right now is because I start college in like a week and I'm trying to give people actual content before I possibly go mute for a while! So sorry for the influx of chapters all at once!**

**On another note, we finally see Beacon in this chapter! Oh what fun awaits our noble and chivalrous knight in shining bowler hat? Or his coworkers? Or the students of Beacon? Find out all of this and more, right now!**

* * *

It's often said that patience is key. Truly, there are many merits to waiting, for all good things come to those who wait.

Evidently, Ozpin wasn't a good person because it seemed like he didn't wait for anything.

Roman had a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that he somehow managed to lie through his every tooth to the headmaster of Beacon goddamn Academy. What the hell was their security like? Probably a bunch of deadbeats and washed up, huntsman nobodies.

Wait, that responsibility pretty much went to him now. He was the security. Shoot!

Neo had taken it much better, and seemed almost excited at the idea to finally be able to interact with people other than him or the twins at the club. Juniors nieces always did treat Neo like a sister. But Neo was also excited at the prospect of a good fight from any promising students. The girl never was any good at keeping her murder boner in her pants.

All these thoughts went through Roman's head as he and Neo flew towards Beacon in a private bullhead. When Ozpin said he'd wanted to see Roman and Neo before he had to address the new students, Roman wanted to tell the headmaster where he could shove his cane, but remembered that Ozpin was his boss now so he refrained. Truly he had found respect for the faculty already if this is who they had to put up with every day for seven and a half months. He wouldn't be surprised if every teacher was as volatile as Glynda. That woman's blood pressure must've been terrifyingly high.

"We'll be touching down shortly, sir," the pilot intoned the pilot. Sir! He could get used to that at the very least! Nobody ever called him sir, only 'scum' and 'perpetrator'. This was how he deserved to be treated! Maybe he could even request a parade...

As the two got off the bullhead, they took a minute to look around. It was almost ten in the morning, students wouldn't arrive until around one to two in the afternoon, so the school grounds were fairly barren. While the two truly had no interest in being heroes or huntsman, it was undeniable that the campus of Beacon Academy was a sight to behold.

Roman and Neo stayed in safehouses. They never had any permanent home or lasting material possessions, and while they both refused to live in abandoned buildings, sometimes you just had to make do with what you had. But Beacon was shiny, pristine, and grand. Beacon tower stood like a colossus among the other buildings, acting as the CCT for the kingdom of Vale. After all, why not put one of the most important parts of the city in the most heavily guarded places in the kingdom? Beacon was like a hive where every bee had a gun and superpowers.

Glynda met them at the front of the school, in the main square (they had more than one!?) and greeted them both with a polite nod, but no other words before she turned about face and walked deeper into the school. No indication to follow was really necessary considering neither of them would have ever thought about being able to step foot in a place like this with their status.

As Roman and Neo followed the witch past halls and training facilities and dorms, Roman decided to try and strike up a conversation.

"So Professor Goodwitch, does Ozpin always do this kind of thing? Where he makes a decision and follows through with it in less than five minutes?" he asked, hoping that for all that was holy his new boss wasn't going to expect him to be ready every hour of the day.

The blonde woman sighed a deep sigh that had her chest (not that he was looking) heave at the sheer strength the action took out of her.

"Yes. Yes he does. And the possibility that he'll do it at least four more times before the day ends is very likely. Simply hope that you are not a part of all of them," she replied curtly, knowing full well how aggravating her boss could be when he wanted to be.

"Uh, all of them? Does that mean I'm definitely gonna be part of one of them?" he inquired, truly praying he heard her wrong. Ozpin couldn't expect that much out of him already... could he?

"It's very likely you'll be part of a lot of questionable decisions that the headmaster makes. Likely, you'll be tested today to see if you're capable of actually assisting with student, or if you'll need to be separated from them," Goodwitch responded, never once breaking her stride. Roman groaned, already wondering if jail would be more worth it. Maybe Cinder would welcome him back with open arms? Yeah, right. Only if those arms were on fire.

Meanwhile, as Roman tried to get in Goodwitch's pants (or skirt), Neo was taking in the sights of where she would be staying for a while. She wasn't exactly excited about having to go to school, but the idea of playing around with people her age was a fun one. That, and they were all probably more trained than the goons that she and Roman normally smacked around, which meant maybe they'd give her a real fight.

Neo did have to keep in mind that she wasn't allowed to maim anyone, the two professors had made that clear with the note of 'cease illegal activities' which meant she'd have to really make sure she didn't unconsciously steal other students things. But at the same time it wouldn't be illegal if she gave people's things back after she was done using them. See! Already making progress in becoming a better person! Not that she had to be better, of course, Roman had told her as much last night.

/\\-/\\-/\

"_Listen Neo, we don't have to become what we're working with," Roman said as they returned to their (hopefully last) safehouse. Roman had made it very clear that they were not to become heroes._

"_That's just going to get us killed early, and I don't know about you, but I would like to die a nice peaceful death! Brothers forbid if I get eaten by a Griffin," he said, throwing his cane off to the side while he placed his hat on the table._

_As he went on about plans and survival, Neo was thinking about Red. The young girl intrigued her. She could clearly fight well, but was so naive to so many things in the world! She even helped them get a spot in Beacon for Brothers sake! Neo planned to take her under her wing and make her a vicious fighter. Red said she had an older sister? Well clearly she wasn't teaching her what she needed to know! The little reaper needed to learn about real world skills like pickpocketing and where to hit somebody so they won't get back up (for both human and faunus alike, a swift kick to the crotch never seemed to fail!)._

_But most of all, if Neo was being honest, she was nervous. Not about Beacon, but about her and Roman being at Beacon. Roman was great, but he'd often get too confident when something starts working out for him. Often times, it's fine and the two don't have to worry about anything. But sometimes, with really big things like this, he gets too confident and then it all falls down and almost always gets them killed._

_Her only hope was that at the end of this, wherever this ended, they'd both be alive and they could continue surviving together._

\/-\/-\/

As the three took the elevator up to Ozpin's office, Roman was thinking about what the headmaster might ask of him. Would he want Roman to go on a mission already? As well as this was going, Roman wasn't dumb enough to think he'd be trusted with a mission that early. Hopefully Ozpin wasn't going to ask him to deal with kids, that would be a nightmare and a half. Little brats would probably start trying to play some crap mind games with him. He could see it now: 'how can a criminal work here?' ``isn't he a bad guy? 'we can't trust them!' 'is he wearing guyliner?'. IT MADE HIS EYES SPARKLE AND EVERYONE ELSE WAS JUST JEALOUS! But other than that, he was confident that none of the kids would be able to really grate his nerves with words like that. They'd have to aim really high if they wanted to do any damage to the gentleman thief of Vale!

The elevator finally dinged, and the three stepped into Ozpin's office. The man in question was sat, with two chairs in front of his desk. Goodwitch went to stand behind and to the right of Ozpin, leaving the two 'reformed' (as they were legally calling it) criminals to sit.

"I hope the morning finds you both well," Ozpin greeted.

_Smug bastard, _the two thought.

"There are just a few prerequisites we must go through before you both start your time at Beacon," Ozpin started, the two nodding for him to continue, "I feel this first one goes without saying, but I would hope that no fights start between students."

"Like in general, or because of us?" Roman asked blatantly, earning an elbow to the ribs from Neo. Ozpin simply chuckled while Glynda sighed.

"While I would hope in general, I am referring to Ms. Politan. Not to say I find you hostile, but things work different here than they did in the back alleys of Vale and the... well, entirety of Vacuo," Ozpin stated, the last part being said with only a tiny hint of guilt. Not that he was wrong, of course.

"Don't worry about Neo, she's house trained," another elbow, this time to the kidney. _Damn, I hope that one doesn't make me piss blood._

"Something else I must ask of you, Ms. Politan, is that you and your father stay in separate rooms," Ozpin said, only this time Neo looked personally offended, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks up in defiance.

"C'mon Neo, I'll be around! It's not like I'm staying in the city, I'll be within walking distance of the dorms!" Roman claimed, trying to ease Neo's unrest. The girl did _not _like being separated from Roman when they were in uncharted waters. Not that he could blame her, but trying to get her to split up was always a hassle.

"Ms. Politan, I assure you that Mr. Torchwick will be available to you whenever you need him. But for fear of nepotism, we must separate you both so as not to stoke any flames," Ozpin stated, continuing once he assured she was listening, "while you need not keep your relationship a secret, know that Mr. Torchwick is known by face to almost everyone entering the city. While we, Ms. Rose, and the other faculty are aware you two are not the bad element, not everyone will be so easily persuaded."

_And yet you were. _They both thought once more, realizing more and more that the headmaster may have actually been slightly mental.

"You are only a known criminal to the authorities and Beacon, Ms. Politan," Goodwitch stated, looking Neo in the eyes, "you should not go around parading your relationship to a well known criminal. Regardless of if the law was broken with good intentions."

_It wasn't but whatever. _Roman thought as he looked over at Neo. She paid more attention when Goodwitch talked, a sign that she respected the deputy's strength and wouldn't willingly fight her.

"Their right kiddo, you should probably only give that information to your teammates or close friends," he said as he reached over and patted her head. She looked at him in shock at his betrayal and looked away from him. She huffed one final time and scooted a few inches away from him, but she nodded her agreement.

"Thank you Ms. Politan. Now, Mr. Torchwick," Ozpin shifted his gaze over to him. _Ah shit._

"Initiation is tomorrow and we require your assistance in reigning in the new students," Ozpin continued, either not seeing or completely ignoring the despair on his face at having to deal with kids. _I jinxed it. I totally jinxed it._

"There are three tasks I need you to help with," the headmaster continued. Three!? That's like two more things than he was okay doing! Who asks someone else to do three things? A slave driver, that's who!

"The first is to facilitate the auditorium tonight. The new students will be sleeping there as they do not yet have assigned teams. We need faculty to make sure none of the students get too... excited."

_Nasty. _The other three people in the room thought

"Professor Goodwitch will also be assisting in this task."

_Goddamnit! _Goodwitch thought as she glared fiercely into the back of Ozpin's head. The headmaster cleared his throat, and loosened his collar a little.

"The second task will be during the initiation itself," Ozpin continued, doing much better than Roman thought he himself could've done to weather Goodwitch's glare, "you will be tasked with making sure no grimm that are too dangerous for our first years. Generally, the more dangerous grimm gather near the cliffside ruins. You will be stationed there until the end of initiation, and a bullhead will both drop you off and pick you up."

Killing grimm eh? Well he made it through three years of combat school in the kingdom known for the most wild and terrible species of grimm on Remnant! He could do fine in a forest near a huntsman academy. There probably wouldn't even be anything worth his time out there! He could just nap instead.

"And the third?" Roman chanced, hoping it would be something along the lines of 'nap in this hammock' or 'eat this cake'.

"The third task goes hand in hand with the previous one. In the event that any of the students manage to get into a fight that they cannot handle, you will be the one to intervene," Ozpin said taking a long sip from his mug. Seriously, when did that thing run out!?

"How will I know if they're in a bind from the cliffside?" Roman asked. Ozpin simply reached into a drawer in his desk and placed a black scroll in front of Roman.

"This is a Beacon faculty scroll. It has access to your assigned faculty room, a new, Beacon issued hunter's ID, with Beacon credentials, the ability to use the Beacon tab, and, for this task, access to the cameras around the Emerald Forest. It also has access to the cameras in the training halls," Ozpin rattled off, never once acting like any of the things he just listed were impressive. To Ozpin they probably weren't, after all he owned the damn school!

But to Roman this small black device may as well have been the winning lottery ticket to the biggest jackpot in the world. Legal Beacon ID? Beacon tab? His own room? He was seriously beginning to rethink his career choices.

"And that is all I have for you today. Do you have any questions?" the headmaster finished, relaxing now that he had gotten everything out of the way.

"Not at the moment," Roman managed, still looking at the scroll he was holding. All these perks and he didn't even have to actually teach! All he had to do was the occasional mission and assist in combat classes! He almost felt bad. Poor Neo was getting the short end of the stick in this whole exchange. Not that he wouldn't use for her every now and then. One for all, and all that.

"Then allow me to officially welcome you to Beacon, as both student and staff."

* * *

Ruby was not having a good first fifteen minutes at Beacon. First, her sister ditched her, then a snobby girl waved a bunch of dust in her face which made her sneeze, and then her sneeze _exploded_! Some emo girl came in and seemed to tell the prissy girl off, but she left before Ruby could thank her! So now she was just laying on the floor hoping that the day would reset and she could do it all over. Not to mention Yang saw a mugshot of Mr. Torchwick on the bullhead and threw a fit about Ruby needing to be careful about who she talks to! Hah! As if! Mr. Torchwick just fights dirty, that's all. He still fights for good though! Yang didn't seem to care about that though and told her not to try and see him again. That was going to be pretty difficult considering he worked at Beacon now...

Speaking of, where was Neo! She was supposed to be here too but Ruby hadn't been able to find her on the bullhead or when they landed! Was she simply destined to be alone!?

"Hey!" a voice above her said. She looked up to see a hand being extended down to her, "I'm Jaune."

"Ruby," she introduced hesitantly. This guy looked familiar. But why? She felt like she'd seen him very recently... wait a minute, "aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

"Alright, not quite the impression I wanted to make on the first day but that's fine I guess," the young man said, blushing a little and scratching the back of his head. _Dang it Ruby! Don't ruin this! You. NEED. This!_

"Sorry, sorry! That's just what came to mind! I didn't mean to offend you!" she quickly apologized, hoping that she'd at least make one new friend today.

"Ugh, it's fine. You look like you're having a rough go of it," he observed. Yeah, that's putting it likely!

"Yeah well, ya know, life happens! Heh heh... heh..." the two drifted into an awkward silence, neither being too good at conversation. Just when Ruby was about to whip out Crescent Rose, a colorful blur tackled her, and she was once again on the ground. Jaune just watched, not knowing how he was supposed to handle the situation.

"Augh! What the! Who the! Why the! Wait—Neo!" Ruby cheered as she jumped into the other small girl, embracing her, "I was sooo lonely!"

"Ouch," Jaune said, a mock frown on his face. Ruby's eyes widened and she leapt off of Neo to quickly reconcile with the boy, throwing all her weight into an accidental punch against the girl. Neo, not expecting this took the punch without any aura.

"No no no! I didn't mean it like that Jaune! I just—" she was cut off when he held up a hand.

"I'm joking Ruby," he said, slightly concerned for the other girl Ruby just springboarded off of. She looked to be in quite a bit of pain, holding her stomach with one hand and supporting herself on the ground with the other. She looked like she might throw up, "I'm more worried about your friend."

"Neo? What's wrong!?" Ruby whipped around as fast as she could to check what was wrong with Neo. When she did, her cape zipped around with her, whipping Jaune in the face.

"Ah my eyes!" he yelled out holding his face.

Ruby was holding Neo's head in her hands to check if she was still conscious when she heard her other new friend (hopefully) scream out. So she dropped Neo, who fell face first into the concrete, and whipped around to check on Jaune. But when she did this she bumped into Jaunes sword, causing the sheath to expand into a shield which knocked him off balance, sending him to the floor too!

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! I'm so so so sorry!" Ruby squeaked, trying to hide her growing embarrassment in her hood while her two now-possibly-not-as-friendly friends writhed on the ground.

"Uhm, maybe we should head for the auditorium now?" Ruby asked, both victims nodding on the ground.

Meanwhile, off in the distance, Roman watched on. With every unfortunate mishap he couldn't help but wince. In any other case he'd laugh, but now that he knew that these three had the possibility of being on a team? They were more of a threat to each other than the grimm! He'd have to try and whip those three into fighting shape. Well, Neo was fine, but she obviously lacked a lot in the way of communication with anyone other than himself.

"Well Neo, looks like you've got your work cut out for you," he said as he turned to go get some rest at his room (still felt great saying that). After all, he had to watch these powder kegs called kids.

* * *

It hadn't occurred to him that most of the students probably weren't expecting Roman Torchwick to be standing before them while they were all in pajamas or that he was openly conversing with Professor Goodwitch. Needless to say, word got around fast, and soon enough the entire auditorium was tense and quiet...

"I'm just saying, if he takes advantage of your time and your patience like that, you should show him who's really in charge and leave _him _to do all the paperwork while you go have a cup of tea! Or a whiskey or margarita, really whatever gets your gander," Roman chimed, leaning casually against the wall of the large hall.

"You know what? You're right! I don't have to take his work, it's not mine! Next time he tries to offload that garbage on to me I'll dump all his coffee in the harbor!" Goodwitch claimed, standing strong.

... Stranger yet was that the headmistress didn't seem to be making any moves to arrest or apprehend him! What was going on!? Maybe he just looked and dressed like the notorious crook?

"Hi Mister Torchwick!" a young (too young to some) girl called out, waving and running up to talk to him. Wait. She just confirmed it was him!? That started an uproar throughout the hall.

"It's him! It's him!"

"The gentleman thief of Vale!"

"The mad hatter!"

"How'd he get here!?"

"Why would they let him in!? Have they gone insane!?"

"What buffoons were in charge of this!?" one particularly vocal girl said. She wore a shocking amount of white.

"They let a known criminal in here!?" another girl in a black yukata, shouted.

"Ruby get away from him!" Yang shouted, eyes beginning to redden.

BANG!

Everyone went silent and looked to the thief and the deputy, the formers cane pointed up at the ceiling, the smoldering scorch mark left behind from his warning shot. Many glared, some even snarled.

"Now then," the thief began, "go to bed. It's late, and you all have a big day ahead of you tomorrow. Sleep deprivation kills faster than hunger and thirst ya know!"

Silence reigned over the room. From a camera hidden in the corner of the ceiling, Ozpin watched as well, intrigued how the populace would react to such a display. And then it happened. The unthinkable happened.

"Snrk," it was short and it wasn't particularly loud, but in the midst of the silence it was heard by everyone. Many were shocked, even Roman and Ozpin.

It didn't become full blown laughter, as she composed herself as quickly as it had come and gone, but a small smile remained on Glynda Goodwitch's face, and its beauty was perhaps due to its rarity. She cleared her throat and it was gone, once again replaced by her normal stern disposition.

"He's right children. Sleep now, you'll need all your energy tomorrow. Am I clear?" she demanded, tilting her head back to look down upon the room.

Neo was, funnily enough, the first person to hit the ground and close her eyes, followed by Ruby, then many others. Roman gave a small golf clap, which the woman gave another tiny smirk at before it disappeared and she leaned in to whisper to him.

"Good job wrangling the students, but if you ever shoot another round off inside, I will toss you off Beacon tower," and then she leant back and acted as though she said nothing. Roman, meanwhile, was white as a sheet and decided that maybe he wouldn't sass the deputy as much as he did everyone else.

That woman was a goddamn beast.

* * *

When Neo awoke, it wasn't to the dirty ceiling of a safehouse or the sound of pedestrian traffic, but the ornate stone ceiling of Beacon's auditorium. She looked around and saw some students getting ready and most still asleep. Neo had slept away from Ruby since her sister kept staring daggers at her. Not that she was afraid of her sister, but because she didn't want to kick the crap out of someone before the initiation even started. That wouldn't help her to look like a normal student. It'd make her feel a lot better, but it wouldn't do much after that.

She looked to the far side of the room and saw that Roman and Goodwitch were still talking. Guess you gotta do something to keep yourself awake. She waved and he gave a two fingered salute back. She simply rolled her eyes. He was such an old man sometimes.

Neo went to prepare for the day. Thanks to the meeting with Ozpin the day before she already knew that the initiation involved fighting through a forest of grimm and finding a team, but she didn't really know how the teams were formed or if she even had a choice in the matter. Her thoughts were cut off when her stomach grumbled. She looked around to see if anyone else had heard but she was alone. She made her way to the mess hall, half by memory, half by following other students hoping that they wouldn't lead her in the wrong direction resulting in their untimely demises.

When she got there students already seemed to be forming cliques. She looked around for Ruby but couldn't locate her among the throngs of hungry teens. She did however spot the blonde guy from yesterday. What was his name again? Jay? Jack? Oh, it was John!

She grabbed a tray of food, no ice cream was present so she settled for pancakes with a massive amount of syrup. She went and sat down across from John. He looked up from his own food at her and waved. She waved back and then they were silent again. Uh oh. Even though Neo was mute, she never experienced awkward silence before. This definitely felt like how Roman described it. She tried to get his attention by writing a short greeting on her scroll and passing it to him. He stopped eating and looked at the device. He let out a little laugh. She raised her eyebrow at him. She was trying to be polite! And he laughed at her! He seemed to notice her mood changing and quickly waved her off.

"Oh sorry! I wasn't laughing at you, promise. It's just, my name is Jaune," he said scratching his cheek. Oh. Whoops, looks like she wasn't paying as much attention as she thought she was. She looked back at him, only to see him looking at her strangely. Without thinking, she signed at him: _Quit staring. _Before realizing that nobody really just _knew _sign language. To her surprise however, he signed right back: _Nothing. Just wondering why you don't talk. _

Okay. Now she was more invested in talking to this guy.

* * *

Jaune waved at Neo, walking off to his own locker away from hers. Turns out the guy had seven sisters (Fucking seven! Like what!? His mom had to have crazy hips) and one of them was born mute, so the whole family learned sign language for her. She also learned that the guy was apparently a pretty good dancer too for much the same reason. At least if they wound up on a team she'd have someone to talk to!

As Neo searched for her own locker she rounded a corner and bump right into a cute girl with a pink streak in her hair. The girl was taller than her, and clearly more grounded considering Neo nearly fell over.

"Are you okay?" a soft, yet masculine, voice asked her. She looked around but couldn't see anyone but the girl. Then the girl opened her mouth to speak, "I'm sorry for bumping into you."

Oh.

That girl is a guy.

Damnit! That's two things wrong in one morning!

She bowed in apology, waving her hand in the sign for sorry, before realizing that she had gotten too comfortable communicating with Jaune. Whoops. She moved to grab her scroll, but the pretty boy stopped her. She looked up to see him moving his hands and arms around. Almost like... wait, for real!?

_It's quite alright. I wasn't paying attention, _he signed, his arms moving more fluidly than Jaunes, or even her own. It was like a graceful dance. Stopped moving his arms and simply spoke.

"My name is Lie Ren. Just Ren works fine," he said before adjusting something in his sleeves. She spelled out 'Neo' and he nodded. He was about to say something else when he was spear tackled to the ground like a football player.

"Ren!? Who's your new friend!? What were you guys talking about!? Gasp! Are you replacing me!? AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!?" a ginger haired girl rattled off, never once even letting the boy answer any of her questions.

"Nora," Ren intoned simply, "this is Neo. She's a new acquaintance. She doesn't seem like she's able to speak."

"Ohhhh! Why didn't you just say so silly!" the ginger haired girl, now identified as Nora, said immediately appearing upright. She came face to face with Neo, the two girls noses almost touching. This was definitely an invasion of personal space.

"Okay!" and just like that the energetic girl was a respectable distance away and happily talking Ren's ear off. Said young man simply looked to Neo and shrugged. Well then. That was certainly a spectacle. She waved to him and he waved back as she walked to her locker, Nora screaming 'BYE NEO' as she departed.

Finally, she had found her shit and felt whole again. She never could come up with a name. To her it didn't make sense considering she wouldn't be able to tell most people anyways. Roman had taken to calling it 'Stabby Stick' considering it did a lot of stabbing. She preferred just Stabby.

Geared up and ready to kill (grimm) she left for the cliff. What they were doing at said cliff was still a mystery.

* * *

At the cliffs, Roman stood waiting beside a bullhead that would take him to the other end of the forest. He saw Neo walk up, and she stood next to Red. Ozpin looked down the line and nodded. He began some dull speech about not hesitating and blah blah blah. When he was done he gestured to himself and Glynda. Glynda took lead, knowing what the procedure was already.

"You will be collecting relics to determine your success in today's initiation," she stated, "along the way you will encounter your partners." Ozpin took lead after this.

"That being said, whoever you make eye contact with first will be your partner for the next four years," he proclaimed. Down the line, varying sounds of protest could be heard. Roman was getting bored however and decided to play around with the scroll he'd been given. Huh, that was strange. There was a series of buttons next to the cliff they were all located on. Wonder what they did? Well, he always was more of a kinetic learner!

FWOOMP!

"AHHHHHHhhhhh..." a large ginger kid in a big breastplate was flung off the side of the cliff mid instruction. Everyone looked at Roman, some glaring, others simply surprised.

"Uh... Begin?" he said, doing jazz hands.

One by one, each student was flung, with the last being the scrawny blonde kid. Roman walked over to the two professors.

"No way that kids gonna make it," he said nonchalantly. The other two simply gave him a raised eyebrow and a stern pout. He put his hands up and stepped into the bullhead.

"Alright, what do I do if one of the kids dies?" he asked, poking his head out the door as the ship started up.

"Do not worry yourself with that. It's very unlikely you'll even have to intervene," Ozpin stated, taking a sip of coffee.

"Okay but like, if something does come up, what do I do with the kids that can't keep going?" he inquired, getting the unsettling feeling that he wasn't going to get an answer.

"In the unlikely event that a student passes, you are to retrieve whatever you can of what remains. If nothing remains, you bring back the thing that killed them. _Alive_," Glynda said, not even looking at him as she observed the students through her scroll.

"Uh, what if the thing that killed them is, like, REALLY big? Or poisonous? Or both!?" Roman yelled, now a little nervous that he was going to have to wrestle a goliath or a king taijitu onto a bullhead and tie it down with bungee cords and rope.

"Good luck, Mr. Torchwick. Feel free to call me if there are any issues," Ozpin assured. At least, Roman would have felt assured if the headmaster didn't visible shut his scroll of and shove in his jacket.

"OZPIN YOU'RE A SON Of a bi..." and just like that the bullhead was flying off to the old ruins.

"I love this job," Ozpin said as he downed his coffee.

* * *

**Don't worry Roman, a student hasn't died in [REDACTED] years! So don't sweat it!**

**Am I gonna do ships in this? Maybe. That's a secret. Know that ships won't ever be the main focus of this story however and neither will fight scenes (big one's I'll include but people vs people fights are just confusing to read.**

**Remember to review and follow! I look forward to another chapter, but in the meantime have a lovely time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! Back once more with MTYcC and ready to get back into it! I appreciate all your love and reviews! I've read every review I've gotten so far and will continue to read them as they come in.**

**There were a few grammatical errors in the last chapter and I apologize for that. When you get really into it you sometimes forget to proofread. My bad!**

**This is the chapter where I start changing up a few things. I also had to take a little creative liberty with a part (I just give Roman a small semblance, nothing OP or anything).**

**Anyways, not much more to say, so let's get right back into it!**

* * *

It felt strange to Neo to be flying through the air at such an incredible speed while not within the confines of a vehicle. It felt free. It felt thrilling. It... Didn't really have much after those two things.

Quickly growing bored of the feeling of soaring through the sky, Neo deployed her parasol, the stopping force of which would've torn the arm off a normal civilian, but for a hunter with aura it was nothing too severe.

She drifted down slowly, even checking her nails in her descent. She may have appeared too casual to some, but grimm weren't scary to someone like her. Not after some of the things she and Roman had seen. She got little shivers thinking of some of the creeps they'd had run-ins with. Yuck. But she was busy forming a plan, the headmasters words still ringing in her head.

_The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years._ What a load of crap! What if she met the gaze of a total douchebag! Maybe she could get out of it by staging a terrible accident. Yeah, there's a good backup plan! She'd just claim they were stabbed to death by a really strange looking beowolf.

_I better try and find Ruby or Jaune ASAP. I don't want them to potentially get paired with a douchebag either! Then I'll have to stage multiple deaths! _Though Neo had only briefly known the two, they had welcomed her presence openly and didn't try to avoid contact with her. That put them on her 'list of people who can't die' list, which now contained herself, Roman, and the two dorky huntsman trainees.

Neo's feet finally touched down on a solid surface. Not quite the ground, she had landed on a large tree branch. Luckily for her, she was light (definitely not because of her height) and the branch barely moved under her weight. She tried to see if she could see the ruins where Ozpin had said the relics were placed, and saw a small pillar that reached only just above the forest canopy. Pillars were like a ruin must-have! That had to be the place. But it was pretty damn far, and she didn't want to chance partnering up with someone until she was sure that they were perfect for her. She liked having options!

Beyond those ruins she could make out a large cliff face, also covered in ruins and even what looked like a tower. She supposed that's where Roman was. She looked at the cliff, as though she'd be able to make him out from this distance. She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about the smooth bastard, she had a test to finish.

It was times like this she wished she focused more on long distance running. It looked like it was going to be an absolute pain in the ass to get across such a dense forest. Sighing, she decided to start her journey through the woods.

She hopped down, landing with barely a sound, and began a dash in the direction she saw the pillar making sure to cloak herself with her semblance every time she heard students she didn't know. What? She wasn't antisocial, she was just making an executive decision not to chance any of the grimm fodder around her. She knew who she wanted; it was just a matter of finding one of them.

As she was lost in her thoughts, she didn't pay attention until she crashed head first into something. Something soft, but at the same time firm and strong. Whatever it was, it knocked her over.

"Oh!" a feminine voice yelped, turning to look behind her. She rubbed her rear, looking concerned for the girl who had just run into her. The girls emerald eyes were stunning, and her hair was a rich shade of red. She wore some light makeup that seemed like it was meant for her face and her face alone. All-in-all, she was pretty hot. And Neo realized that thing she ran into was the other girls ass. A girl that was actually starting to look a lot more familiar. Neo could've sworn she'd seen the red head somewhere before but where? Damn! It was on the tip of her tongue! And damn, her ass really just layed her flat!

"Pyrrha! Wait up! You're much faster than I am!" a familiar masculine voice yelled from over a bush. Wait, was that Jaune? And did he say Pyrrha? As in, championship tournament fighter, Pyrrha Nikos!? She ran into celebrity ass!? That had to be worth something in certain circles.

"I'm sorry Jaune! I didn't realize you weren't behind me anymore!" Pyrrha said, looking back and doing a small bow. Jaune came jogging up to the champion, panting. He must've been running a lot since there was no way a hunter-in-training could've been so tired already!

"That's fine... I just have to... work on my cardio is all," the blonde said, hands on his knees while he heaved sharp breaths. He looked over the ground for a second before finally seeing Neo.

"Neo?" he asked, finally righting his position and standing at his full height again, "good to see you're safe!"

She nodded at him and signed "_same_" before pointing to Pyrrha, who looked incredibly out of her element right now. Jaune's eyes widened and he stumbled for a brief moment.

"Oh yeah! Neo, this is my partner, Pyrrha. Pyrrha, this is Neo," the boy said gesturing to each with his arms. Damn! That was one of her options down, she just had to hope Ruby was still available.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Pyrrha said, a smile on her face. One that didn't quite reach her eyes. Neo nodded back at the girl and finally jumped up, dusting herself off. It was only then she realized the actual height difference between herself and the other two students. Both of them were at least six feet tall! She had to actually look up to meet their eyes! That was just embarrassing!

Jaune explained that he and Pyrrha were heading in the same direction she was, they had just been launched further. She nodded and gestured in toward the ruins with a small curtsey. The two giants chuckled and they all started walking together. Along the way, Jaune asked Neo what she knew about aura. Pyrrha observed as well, watching the small girl in curiosity. Neo signed, "_about as much as anyone," _and shrugged, admitting she had no vast knowledge on the concept. Pyrrha seemed a little confused so Jaune translated for her. The champion nodded and the three continued to walk in silence.

That is, until they heard a growl from one of the bushes. Pyrrha and Neo dropped in to ready stances, Pyrrha standing with her shield in front of her and her weapon, a javelin by the looks, poised to strike, while Neo opened her parasol once more, swing it with a flourish and resting it on her shoulder. Seeing the two women prepare themselves, Jaune opened up his shield and held his sword in a sloppy grip. He must've been pretty confident in his abilities if he wasn't even going to hold his weapon right! He must've been pretty strong.

All of a sudden, an ursa jumped out of the bushes, trying to crush them with its immense weight. Neo and Pyrrha simply extended their blades, Pyrrha thrusting her javelin out as Neo deployed the blade within her umbrella. The beast skewered itself on the two weapons and quickly dissipated into ash. The two listened for more but it appeared that one was a straggler, so they put their weapons away and began walking again. Jaune stood wide eyed at the display, sheathing his own weapon and jogging to catch up to the two warrior women.

They kept walking until they came upon a cave. It had cute little drawings and Neo pointed at them and smiled. Pyrrha giggled into her hand, an actual, small smile making its way onto her face, while Jaune 'pfft' and grinned. They were about to continue past the cave, when a skittering sound came from its mouth. The three froze, wide eyed as they slowly looked to peer into the cave. For a moment, it was black.

Then there were ten red dots, and the skittering became a loud screech.

_Oh shit, _they all thought.

* * *

_Booooooored, _Roman thought as he lay on the grass at the top of the cliff. The bullhead had gone to circle the forest, leaving him alone on a cliff with nothing to do.

"I bet Neo is having all sorts of fun right now," he remarked to nobody. He was never any good at filling his free time. He had taken a lot around the area and immediately couldn't detect any large or otherwise dangerous grimm. Which meant he was stuck on this cliff until the initiation was over and he only had himself to talk to.

He had tried observing the students through the camera on his scroll but quickly found he didn't particularly care about who got partnered with who. He was certain Ozpin and Goodwitch would be recording it all anyway so he didn't bother. He'd left his scroll, his new one, on one of the cameras, tossing the device next to him as he tried to nap the rest of the day off. Had he been paying any attention, he'd have seen a boulder shift and move, heading deeper into the woods and towards the ruins.

"Yeah. Neo's definitely having much more fun," he restated.

* * *

"AHHHHH!" a girlish scream echoed throughout the trees. Neo was realizing how much she had initially misjudged her companions character. Jaune's screams kept attracting the deathstalker to him, never letting the beast get close to her or Pyrrha. He was a real hero, and she had a newfound respect for his courage in distracting the monster. He truly did belong here!

His screaming reached a mount when the deathstalker attempted to run him through with its stinger, but it only nicked his hoodie, bring the boy back with the stinger.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted, trying to find a way to get the blonde down without accidentally hitting him. Neo was having a similar problem. With all the beasts thrashing, she wasn't able to jump on its tail and remove the stinger. Before either of the girls could come up with something, the creature seemed to finally be fed up with the new weight on its tail. And so it did what anyone would do when they have something stuck to them.

It flung the offending debris away. Only the offending debris in this case was Jaune.

The deathstalker screeched again, the noise similar to two large cargo ships scraping against one another. It was a loud and terrible noise, and you'd have to be an idiot to have not heard it, even from the cliffs!

* * *

_I mean seriously, I can't even hear any grimm! _Roman thought, tossing his cane, Melodic Cudgel, up in the air and catching it repeatedly. What was even the point of holding the initiation in these woods? There couldn't have been anything worse than an ursa and even that was a stretch!

"Man, I can't even fall asleep since the sun is in my eyes!" Roman whined aloud. Even if nobody could hear him it at least made him feel better.

If he had really looked, he would've seen some of the trees in the forest rustling, and one even disappearing altogether. That, and the giant nevermore circling around the canopy. But he wasn't really looking. He was too busy with his monologue.

"I bet Neo's done with the damn thing already," Roman griped. There was still so much time left in the day and so little to do.

* * *

Neo was not having fun.

One of her new friends just got launched away by a giant killer scorpion! How uncool was that!?

Currently, she and Pyrrha were running and ducking through the trees and bushes, trying to lose the creature in the underbrush. Sadly, due to the massive size and boulder-like pincers the beast didn't really slow down so much as it barreled through everything in its path. The two women had been running for what felt like an hour, but was likely only about twenty minutes. Not that twenty minutes of non-stop running and maneuvering through a forest was particularly easy, but still.

Their salvation appeared to finally be at hand when the two entered a clearing. There were at least six other students here! And there were the ruins! There was also a giant nevermore flying above head. And was that... a person? It was! And like the valiant hero he was, Jaune jumped out of a tree to save her, using his body to break her fall! So heroic!

Before she could revel in the small victory, the deathstalker wound up one of its large claws and batted she and Pyrrha across the clearing. The two girls flew across the small field and crashed in front of the rest of the students.

"Great, now we can all die together!" Ruby's sister proclaimed in a mock happy tone. Then she looked down at Neo and glared, making an 'I've got my eyes on you' motion. Neo winked in response, earning a small growl from the blonde bombshell.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby claimed, rushing off alone towards the deathstalker. Yang called out after her, but the girl was like a bolt of lightning and was gone in a second. The young reaper attempted a large slash to the scorpions front, but she was deflected with ease.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang shouted, trying to get to her sister before she could be bisected by the creature. Before she could move however, the nevermore above rained its razor like feathers around the clearing, blocking Yang from Ruby and pinning the young Rose by the hood. The deathstalker was about to come down on the girl with its stinger, Neo bolting to assist the girl when a wall of ice erupted from the ground. It was the girl that Jaune caught, and she also looked fairly similar in much the same way as Pyrrha had.

The girl in white stood over Ruby, saying something that Neo couldn't quite make out before helping the girl to her feet. Yang rushed in and crushed her sister in a hug. Neo breathed a sigh of relief but huffed in annoyance. That girl must've been Ruby's partner, which meant both Neo's options were taken. She silently groaned and turned to the small altar in the middle of the ruins. She walked up and saw that the other students had grabbed... chess pieces? She shrugged, and looked to each small stand.

Only there wasn't anything left.

Did that mean she was going to fail!? After all she just went through!?

She looked around and spotted something that looked hastily hidden behind a bush. She walked over to see what it was and it appeared to be a hastily disposed bag from a... toy store? What was in the bag?

'Classic chess set 9.99' was written on the square box. The relics weren't even vintage chess pieces! They were from a ten lien chess set! Neo was about to toss the box away, but remembered she still needed a relic and checked in the box. There were no pieces left in the box! The only left was... well, something was better than nothing, she supposed.

"Did you get your relic Neo?" Jaune asked as Neo came back from the altar. She nodded and held up her relic for everyone to see.

"Uh, I don't really think—" Jaune was hushed by Ruby, who only shook her head and mouthed, 'let her have this'.

Neo was holding a chess board out in front of her, a proud look on her face as if she'd solved a complex problem. The other eight students simply stared in a mix of deadpan and shock, not believing that someone would just go ahead and take an entire chess board as a relic. They shook it off and Neo stashed the folded up board in her jacket.

"Let's move then!" Ruby said, and they all began to run towards the cliff side ruins, the nevermore and deathstalker following shortly after.

Little did any of them know, a large rock seemed to be following them as well, tree trunks and other forest debris seemingly clinging to the boulder.

* * *

Roman was truly bored now.

No sign of students and the only thing to watch was that stupid bird flying around in a circle. He sighed and finally got up, picking up his faculty scroll and stashing it away. He stretched and groaned as he worked out a kink in his back. Damn ground was not a comfortable place to lay.

He looked back and saw that the nevermore was beginning to fly in his direction. That was weird, he wasn't putting out any particularly strong negative emotions. So that meant it must've been following something.

Right in his direction.

"Ah shit," Roman cursed as he saw a large group of kids run into the clearing, the nevermore flying past the kids and stopping to hover on front and above the group screeching and cawing before sending a wave of feathers at them, splitting them all up.

Well these unfortunate bastards were just going to have to deal with it, he supposed. When he looked again however, he noticed a splash of colors on one of the kids. Brown, white, and... Neo!? She was one of the unfortunate bastards!? Damn, that meant he was obligated to help now. He was about to move when his scroll rang. He checked to see it was from Ozpin. Roman tsked and answered.

"Ozpin, now's not really a good time," he said as he picked up. Ozpin cleared his throat and responded.

"On the contrary, I know now is a bad time," he said, Roman pulling a face. _What the hell is wrong with this guy!? _

"We're watching through the cameras right now and I would ask that you refrain from interfering just yet," Ozin said.

"What!? Why!?" Roman shouted back, not expecting the headmaster to tell him _not _to do the thing he asked Roman to do.

"The students have numbers on their side, and have all shown promise so far, as I'm sure you've noticed," _er, whoops, _"so allow them a chance to prove themselves and assist if things get out of hand."

Just then, a deathstalker came crashing through the trees, skittering and screeching. As the students attempted to shelter themselves in the ruins the nevermore flew by and rammed into the old pillars supporting the bridge, causing the whole structure to shake as the bridge collapsed. Through a convoluted series of events, four of the students managed to make it to the tower ruins, while the other five, Neo among them, remained across the ravine.

"Is this out of hand yet, you crazy bastard!?" Roman yelled into his scroll. In the background he could hear Goodwitch huff and agree with him while Ozpin sighed.

"This is still a controllable situation," Ozpin said, "don't move yet."

Roman groaned and ran a hand down his face, hanging up. That senile old man better have been right about this being 'controllable'. Yeah right! That blonde chick just jumped into the face of the nevermore! That wasn't controllable!

Meanwhile, Neo was with Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren, and Nora and the five of them were pushing the deathstalker back. With the limited space they had it was quickly becoming evident that they needed to get off the remaining portion of the bridge before they fell to their doom.

Neo jumped and ran along the back of the creature, grabbing its tail and swing up to stand on top of it. She quickly picked up where Ren left off, the boy in green having unloaded a mass of bullets into the stingers base before he was flung painfully into a wall. She raised her sword and cleaved the rest of the stinger off, the appendage falling and getting stuck in the creatures back. Neo quickly hopped off as she saw Nora get vaulted into the air by Pyrrha. As Neo landed behind the beast, Nora came down and slammed her hammer on the stinger, a sickening crack resounding from the monster before the bridge crumbled and fell, the deathstalker falling with it.

Neo watched Jaune crash into the ground, Nora land on her ass, and Pyrrha stick the landing. Shortly after, Ren stumbled over and promptly face planted into the grass.

As they looked over at the other four across the way, they saw the nevermores tail encased in ice, trapping it to the top of the ruins. They watched as Ruby landed in what looked like a giant slingshot.

Roman looked down at the four girls from his place at the top of the cliff. What were they doing? All of a sudden the little Rose launched like a bullet at the nevermore, catching it by the neck and running up the side of the cliff with the help of some strange glyphs. At the very edge of the cliff she stopped and brought her scythe forward with all her strength, beheading the bird and landing right in front of Roman.

"Huh, nice moves Red," he said as she looked up at him in surprise at first, then happiness. A proud grin broke out across her face.

"Seven out of ten," he said as he looked past her. She let out an indignant squawk and flailed her arms around in protest.

Roman was about to tease her some more when a strange garbled and inhuman noise came from the tree line. He and each of the students looked over and Roman swore. He was going to throttle Ozpin.

Coming out of the forest was a mass of trees protruding from a large boulder. The mass seemed to make up a body, with the trees making up arms and legs and the boulder being the large, bulky torso. In the center of the torso was what looked like a bone white mask with red etchings and one piercing, yellow eye.

"What is that!?" Ruby yelled, the other students below doing much the same and readying themselves for more combat. The only issue was that, for the exception of Neo and Pyrrha, none of them looked like they had it in them to keep going.

"That, little Red, is what I'd call 'out of hand'. And you will be staying up here and taking pot shots at it while I go down and deal with it," Roman stated, stretching a little before adding, "don't follow, these things aren't as cut and dry as the big bird and the angry scorpion. It's a geist, and they're only vulnerable when they're not in their host bodies. If you can, aim for the face."

Roman gave himself some distance from the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing Mr. Torchwick?" Ruby asked shifting Crescent Rose into sniper form.

"Taking a leap of faith," he replied, before running and vaulting off the edge of the cliff. He heard Red scream out a 'what!?' as he descended. He was fairly confident though. Mostly due to his semblance.

His semblance was called Gambit. Once activated, he would become incredibly lucky for a short amount of time. This issue was that after using it, he'd be incredibly _un_lucky for the same amount of time afterwards and he wasn't able to activate it again during the 'unlucky period' as Neo called it.. He generally used it for really big heists or particularly important lies (look where that got him).

He reached out with his cane and the handle ejected out and snagged a root sticking out of the other side of the ravine. He used a cable connecting the handle to the shaft to hoist himself up and onto solid ground, then deactivated his semblance. Not too bad, only about a minute of usage, so the drawback shouldn't be too severe—

"AHHH!" Roman abruptly tripped backwards and fell into the ravine, Neo reaching out with a silent cry. A gloved hand reached up over the edge for purchase and Roman once again crawled out of the ravine.

"Okay! Now we're good for sure—" and then the ground Roman was holding on to gave out and he fell once again. Neo smacked her face and looked through her fingers to the edge again. This time when Roman crawled out he took ten solid steps forward away from the ravine and wiped himself off.

"Alright Neo, let's show these kids what a real fight looks like!" Roman proclaimed, pointing his cane at the geist. The mass of forestry almost toss one of the logs making up its body at him but was struck in the face by a high caliber round. He'd have to buy Red a cookie for that one.

He aimed his cane at the geist and fired off three rounds. The first two struck the beast in the legs and the third caught it in the arm. All three shots set the geists body on fire. It made another noise, sounding like someone dumped a bag of rocks down a meat grinder.

Even while on fire, the monster lumbered forward and brought both its arms up for an overhead smash. When it brought its arms down everyone was shocked that Roman didn't even move. Well, almost everyone.

Once the beasts arms struck, Roman shattered like glass, surprising everyone once more. Ruby looked through the scope of her gun to see if she could spot him, when she realized that Neo was gone too! So was Pyrrha!

Suddenly the beast staggered forwards, a loud metallic clunk being heard. Looking behind the golem they all saw Pyrrha standing strong as she caught her shield on the rebound.

"Good arm kid. Personally I'd say less spinning, but we can work on it," Roman commented, the champion pulling a strained smile that looked more confused than anything.

While the beast was still staggered Neo jumped and planted both feet into its back, forcing the beast to fall forward and leaving a large crack along the stone. Roman lazily lifted his cane up and shot one last flare into the crack, the resulting explosion shattering the rock and sending the geist flying out of its body. A burning log landed nearby the thief. It screeched, and tried to find something else to possess but before it could it was shot out of the air by Ruby. Damn, that was two cookies now.

The geist landed and writhed on the ground before Roman stepped over and stood before it.

"Watch and learn you little rugrats and ragamuffins! This is what we call on the streets, a 'payday'!" he announced, before lifting and stomping down on the geist mask, his boot breaking through the mask and through the grimms body. It wriggled spastically before freezing and falling limp, disappearing shortly after.

Roman brushed himself off and took out a cigar, using the burning log to light the end and then taking a long drag.

"Ahhhh, damn that was good," Roman said aloud, all the students except for Neo and Ruby (who was still on top of the cliff) giving him incredulous looks. He took out his scroll and called Goodwitch.

"Roman. We saw everything, the bullhead should be there... two seconds ago," the deputy said before hanging up. He looked at his scroll with a raised eyebrow before hearing the hum of a bullhead above. He simply chuckled before calling out to all the students.

"Alright kids, get on the school bus, we have to get back to school now!" he shouted, waving the bullhead down. The large ship landed and the door opened, revealing Goodwitch inside.

"Headmaster Ozpin is waiting back at the school and we are awaiting the last students arrivals," she said while glaring out, each student wilting under her gaze.

"Relax Glynda, they were just doing what the old man said!" Roman replied, each student wincing, expecting the headmistress to blow a gasket at his liberal use of her first name and the fact that he had told her to relax. Rule one of someone who was always angry; never tell them to relax.

But rather than toss Roman off the ravine for a third time that day, she simply sighed and her face relaxed a little bit.

"Yes, you are correct. The headmaster is the one responsible for this taking as long as it did. Had you intervened earlier the students would be back at Beacon already," the woman conceded, rubbing her temples. The students were shocked to say the least. That woman, no, that force of nature, was not one that seemed capable of slowing down or calming, but Roman seemed able to disarm her with a few words!

Little did the kids know, Roman had half expected that to fail. He didn't really think Goodwitch was okay with using her first name or if she would only get more angry with his words.

"Oh yeah, and uh, we need to get Re—er, Ruby off the cliff," Roman said, pointing up at the young Rose, both the professor and students eyes trailing up to the girl. She noticed from above that everyone was looking her way and did a little wave. Glynda groaned, her face once more scrunching up in frustration.

"Of course we do. Students! On the ship!" without another word, everyone crammed into the bullhead, with half of the students sitting as far away from Roman, and now Neo, as possible, while the other half remained indifferent.

Jaune seemed oblivious and sat next to Neo, and Pyrrha stayed with her partner. Ren looked to care less and simply took an available seat and Nora looked like she wanted to ask Roman about a hundred questions. Yang and the two other girls Neo didn't know the names of sat on the other end of the ship, glaring a hole through Roman and sometimes shifting their glares to her. Whenever they did, she'd give them a cheshire grin and stick out her tongue, making them glare harder.

When Ruby got on the ship, she tried to see Neo and Roman, but Yang pulled her away and kept her securely away from the two reformed criminals. Neo shrugged and made an 'it is what it is' motion. She turned and started signing with Jaune instead, the boy chuckling at some of her absurdness. It worked for him since it helped distract him from the motion of the aircraft. It also won him some points in the Roman department, not that he'd ever tell the kid. Roman simply shook his head with a smile as he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

She would sometimes point to Pyrrha and do a motion which the boy would translate to the red head. Pyrrha would laugh politely sometimes, but seemed confused about how she should be dealing with the current situation. Then again, Neo seemed friendly enough, and she and Roman did work with her to take down the geist. Plus, Pyrrha was severely lacking in the real friends department so she decided that she'd take that chance.

That is until Neo said something that Jaune wouldn't translate. The boy went red and stammered, and Neo's smile turned from innocent to evil as she started prodding the blonde boy. Ren, who had been watching, laughed a short laugh with Nora giggling next to him. How many people on this ship knew sign language!?

Jaune remained silent, so Neo instead looked at Pyrrha directly. Pyrrha, wanting to make this work and make her new friend happy looked at Neo. Knowing she didn't know sign language, Neo pantomimed something. She pointed at Pyrrha and then threw her thumb over her shoulder, indicating behind her. Then she pointed back at Pyrrha and drew a few curves with her finger. Finally, she knocked on the side of the ship, and pointed to the metal plating that made it up. Pyrrha took a moment to think about the game of charades Neo was playing.

It was about her, that was for sure. It was metal? Or maybe solid? And it had something to do with behind her and curves—

Oh.

Jaune's blushing finally made sense, as Pyrrha thought about how she had first met Neo. The message was clear now and Pyrrha joined Jaune in his embarrassment, turning red as her hair. Nora finally laughed out loud and even Ren, who seemed so quiet, chuckled a little. Yes, Neo had made her point clear: _Your ass is like steel._

Neo looked over to Ren and Nora and pointed to the ginger with a questioning look. Nora seemed to understand much faster than Neo would have thought.

"Ren and I learned sign language to communicate without words!" the bubbly girl chimed, smiling the whole time. After all, with Ren's semblance it made sense for the two to find a way to communicate silently so as not to give themselves away.

After that it was a silent trip back to Beacon.

* * *

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie," Professor Ozpin called, the four teens stepping up and standing before him, "the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team JNPR."

Nora jumped and hugged Ren, the boy taking it with patience that had to have been cultivated over years of experience.

"Lead by Jaune Arc," Ozpin finished, earning a 'huh?' from the newly named leader. Pyrrha gave him a proud grin and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. He pretended to be hurt and fall too, what a riot!

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," the headmaster called, "the four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY. Lead by Ruby Rose!"

Ruby looked surprised, as did Weiss (Neo knew she looked familiar!) but Yang hugged Ruby, exclamations of pride coming from the older sister.

That was all well and good. Truly it was. But Neo hadn't been called. At all. JNPR and Ruby were all looking at her with concern and questioning looks. She shrugged, she didn't know anything either! She looked around and spotted Roman near a door. Ozpin and Glynda walked through said door and Roman motioned for neo to follow, then pointed at the the two teams she was with. She nodded pointed for Ruby and Jaune's attention. They both turned and asked their teams to follow. Neo twisted her way through the crowd with the ease of someone who had conquered the concrete jungle. The rest hustled through as best they could.

"Ms. Politan," Ozpin greeted as she entered, "we understand that you may be a tad bit confused, but we will explain."

"You. You will explain," Roman and Glynda stated in unison, Ozpin wilting a bit at that.

"_I _will explain," he amended. The other two teams stood by idly, most of RWBY looking unhappy to be in the presence of a notorious criminal. JNPR didn't seem to care nearly as much.

"You see, someone—"

"You," Glynda cut in.

"—_someone _made a small miscalculation with the amount of students that were accepted," Ozpin continued, "that said, we had an uneven amount and you retrieved the chess board as your relic of choice."

Neo nodded, remembering that Professor Goodwith had taken all their relics when they arrived at Beacon and looked incredibly angry when Neo handed her the board. The deputy assured Neo that it wasn't directed at her and stomped off, grumbling about 'bad management'.

"That being said, you performed admirably as well, so we're offering you all a choice," Ozpin stated looking among all nine students, "given how well you all worked together we want to offer a solution. You would still act as both teams JNPR and RWBY but would be conjoined as one task force through Ms. Politan, who will act as an auxiliary member to both teams when needed."

The students were all quiet, and each had an eyebrow raised. Roman sighed and stepped forward.

"Escentially, you nine would be one big, happy team family and Neo will be an additional member to both of your teams for missions and other exercises in the future," he said, looking back at Ozpin. Did he have to use the most convoluted words for everything?

Before the WBY could protest, Ruby stepped forward and saluted.

"Team RWBY accepts!" she claimed proudly.

"No we do—" Weiss was cut off as Jaune stepped forward and agreed as well.

"Yeah, we're all cool with it. Are you Neo?" the boy asked, his team and Ruby all smiling at her while Weiss, Blake, and Yang all looked ready to froth at the mouth. She'd get to be with new friends _and _annoy people who didn't like her? She looked back at Roman with wide, questioning eyes. He put his hands up.

"Your life, your choice kiddo. Don't give me the chance to play overprotective father or you'll regret it," the man said, all eyes except for Ruby's widening at the revelation that Roman was her father. She looked to Ozpin and Goodwitch. The deputy gave her a nod and glared down at Ozpin, who wisely remained silent.

Neo spun back around and did a deep, showy bow, arms stuck out behind her and parasol resting on her back.

"Well that's that I suppose. Ms. Politan, you will be staying in team JNPR's dorm," Ozpin stated, before noticing Romans death glare and his nod towards the two boys on the team. Ozpin simply looked at the three furious women on the other team and shrugged, Roman rolled his eyes and looked to jaune and Ren, running his finger across his throat. Ozpin dutifully ignored it and decided to go. As he was making to leave he was stopped by an outburst.

"Wait just a minute! You expect us to work with criminals!" Weiss whined, Blake agreeing and Yang stood with her arms crossed and eyes red.

"You will work with _one _reformed criminal, Ms. Schnee. You will be _taught _by your new assistant combat teacher and Beacon security, Mr. Torchwick," Ozpin stated, before leaving the room, not letting any other complaints get by. Goodwitch glared down everyone in the room, softening slightly at Roman (he didn't do anything this time) and following the headmaster.

"See ya in class kiddos!" Roman chimed, swinging out the door after Glynda, not wanting to be in that ticking time bomb of a room.

The room was quiet and tense. One participant didn't seem to realize however.

"YAY! WE'RE LIKE A SUPER TEAM NOW!" Nora shouted, jumping up.

Everyone sighed. It was shaping up to be an interesting year.

* * *

"Emerald?"

"Yes ma'am," the so called Emerald bowed.

"Call up Roman and see if he's got the dust," a sultry voice hummed. Emerald nodded and pulled out her scroll, dialing a number. It rang for about thirty seconds before there was any noise.

"Roman, it's Cinder. How are we doing on—"

"We're sorry, this number has been deactivated. Please try a different number. Thank you!" an automated message played before hanging up.

"Ma'am? I don't think that was a joke," Emerald said, slightly afraid of having to put out a fire. Cinder closed her eyes and sighed deep and calm. She opened her eyes and looked out the window of their current residence. She did this about three more times, Emerald sweating and coming close to running with each breath. Finally Cinder stopped just as Emerald thought she may have had a conniption fit. Cinder finally spoke.

"That rat bastard."

* * *

**Goddamn that was a long one! We're officially in Beacon! Yay! Three cheers for Roman and Neo!**

**(Silence)**

**Well that's to be expected.**

**So I gave Roman a luck based semblance because I feel like it really fit his character and place in the story. I also didn't want to make a team of OC's for Neo because that would defeat the point of having her befriend the main cast. I also didn't want to swap out any of the main cast because then I'd feel like I'm missing a chance for character interaction.**

**If ever Neo or Roman feel OOC I apologize. It's not like the show really gives us much to go off of, thus the entire point of this fic (read chapter one authors note). As always Please review and follow and I'll upload as soon as I can!**

**I hope you have a lovely time, and remember; don't bite off more than you can chew!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome to another chapter of MTYcC! Lst chapter was the longest I've written, sorry about that (unless you like those kinds of chapters then disregard this message).**

**My partner has taken to calling Roman and Glynda 'Orange Magic' and I think it's pretty funny. But who's to say that will happen? I suppose you'll have to wait and find out later! AH HA!**

**WARNING: this chapter gets a little gruesome. It is under the crime category after all. I also have to make a backstory so expect there to be a few plot holes until later chapters when I can fully fill them in if I have to. The story won't have a huge bearing on the rest of the story, I just needed it so that I could give Roman a moment and some more grounding in this story.**

**I don't think this chapter will be as long but I thought that about the last one so we shall see. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

It really wasn't all that impressive of a dorm room. An extra bed had been added for Neo, making the room a little compact, but certainly still dealable, but other than that it had some pretty basic amenities. A small dresser that they'd all have to share, a desk that really only one person could use at a time, maybe two if they squeezed, a tiny thigh high bookshelf, and a small closet on the right side of the room. There was a single window with red curtains in the middle of the room, but Neo noted that you could absolutely fit through the frame if you had to make a quick escape.

The bathroom was on the left side of the room. The bathroom was honestly more impressive than the bedroom, containing a shower, toilet, sink and mirror. All in all, it was what one would expect out of a dorm. To Neo it was one of the finer living spaces she'd occupied.

After years of living in fairly ratty or dangerous places, one really learned to enjoy having cleaner and neater spaces. Roman almost blew a gasket when he learned that she would be dorming with not one, but two boys. She even watched him pay off Pyrrha, _actually pay with his own real lien_, to make sure the two men didn't ever touch her. Pyrrha took the money hesitantly and agreed. It was a fairly easy way to get into one of the teachers good graces after all.

Neo leapt on her new bed and bounced a few times, revelling in the fact that it had no tears or exposed springs. She had chosen the bed right under the window, used to sleeping the closest to escape routes. The others chuckled and picked out their beds too, with Nora and Pyrrha taking the beds closer to the bathroom, and Jaune and Ren taking the beds closer to the closet.

The five quickly put their belongings away, Neo taking up the least space and Ren being the one to take up the most. Not entirely his fault as he had brought a hot plate that Nora claimed, 'was good luck and made the best pancakes ever' and that Ren could not have left without it. While opening the closet they found their uniforms, the smallest one with the skirt obviously being Neo's.

It was late, and they all had a long day of fighting and, in Neo's case, being glared at. Not that the looks bothered her, but yeesh, those three were very persistent. She'd be surprised if they were even able to look at her without scorn, let alone have a conversation with her.

The teens all dressed for sleep, Pyrrha wearing modest red silk pajamas, Ren wore a green robe that was open at the chest for ventilation, Nora had small pink shorts and a black tank top that said 'boop', and Jaune had them all shocked with a baby blue onesie. Neo simply wore a small, light pink t-shirt with little images of ice cream all over it and baggy brown sweat pants. They all had a small laugh at the blonde boys choice of sleepwear. He remained firm in his stance that they were more comfortable than anything else on Remnant.

It was time to sleep, they had classes (ugh, learning) in the morning after all and being late on the first day after already being late to the initiation ceremony was not a good way to start the school year. They all tucked in for rest, some form of goodnight coming from all of them before they passed out from the days excitement.

* * *

Roman was sat in his personal room. The faculty rooms were larger than the student ones, having three parts altogether. Upon opening the door, he was greeted with a main room, only slightly smaller than the student dorms. It had a small couch, two single person armchairs, and a low coffee table. In the back was a small personal kitchen with a few overhead cabinets and a fridge with an expensive bottle of wine and a tag that said 'welcome to Beacon' in gold cursive. Fancy!

On the left was a full bathroom with a bathtub, shower, sink, and even a small bench! On the right was his bedroom. A cozy double bed sat in the center, a closet on the right and a bureau on the left. He also had a small bedside table with a lamp and a cabinet.

This was the life! He should've lied to a higher authority sooner!

He was about to take a long shower (a liberty he didn't have in any of their safehouses) when there was a knock at his door. It better not be some bastard-ass kid trying to pick a fight already! He went and opened the door and was instead met with three adults.

"Oh-HO! Welcome to the family chap! I've heard you've got stories from Vacuo, and I'm interested to hear them!" a large (portly, even) and older man bellowed. Roman had to clear his ears a little after the exclamation.

"What, he means to say is, 'lets share a drink' isn't that right?" a lanky man with thick glasses stated. He spoke a mile a minute and everything about him was unkempt.

"Will you two shut up and introduce yourselves already!" a very familiar and angry voice shouted from behind the men. It was good to know that Glynda was always there to be the voice of reason. Terrifying, but good nonetheless.

"Ah, my apologies sir! I am Peter Port, pleased to meet you!" the larger man said, shaking Roman's hand (even though he had no intention of doing so, it was just forcefully shaken). The lankier man stepped up as well.

"And I am Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr Torchwick, I look forward to working alongside you!" the doctor said, Roman having to play keep up to understand him. He smelled like... coffee? It was almost nine at night!

"Uh, Roman Torchwick. You can just call me Roman," the criminal said, wondering (and hoping) that they were all only here to introduce themselves.

"Then please, it would only be fair if you address us in the same manor, at least, while not in front of the students," Glynda stated, and holding something out for him, "a drink, if you wouldn't mind."

He looked over the bottle. _Menagerie White!? _That was some of the most fine wine and alcohol in the world! Nevermind hoping they were only here for introductions, he wanted to pop that thing open! He stepped back and raised an arm to the room, welcoming the three professors in. None of them seemed to bat an eye, after all, they probably had identical rooms.

He looked through the cabinets and found wine glasses and placed them on the table. The four adults sat around the table, Peter and Bart in the armchairs and he and Glynda on the couch. The wine was poured and a toast was made.

"To a new year, a new member, and a new room!" Port toasted, the others clinking glasses. Roman swished his before he took a sip. Damn that good! Neo tried wine once and nearly spit it in his face. She just hadn't grown enough yet.

"You guys seem to be taking this fairly well. The students looked ready to start a riot," Roman said, leaning back into the couch. The two other men simply laughed it off.

"It is to be expected! This is almost completely unprecedented and I can tell you they've probably never had to deal with something like this," Oobleck claimed, leaning in as he said so, "but don't fear, we know your story and we have no care for any past misdeeds!"

"Quite my boy!" Port followed up, "I quite prefer doing things the old way myself, not that I'd ever say that to the students, ah ha!" the large man said, his laugh booming out.

"While I don't condone your behavior, you've certainly proven yourself too level headed to just simply be some petty criminal," Glynda added (_ouch) _she took a sip of wine. A large one that told of stress he'd never understand.

"Why don't you tell us about Vacuo Roman? I want to hear your most riveting story!" Peter raved, wanting to hear if the thief had anything _nearly _as interesting as his own stories.

"I concur," Bart began, "I wish to know more about what could've made you commit to a life like the one you lead."

"I must confess, I am also a little curious," Glynda admitted. The three other professors now stared at him. He chuckled, knowing that, for once, he didn't have to lie.

"Well, okay," Roman began, "do any of you know about the Shade Massacre?" he asked. All three winced, having heard about the even years ago.

"I was in my second year of training when that happened," Glynda supplied. It was a gruesome event. A student in Shade had started going out and murdering other students in the night. They would leave philosophical quotes about existence etched onto each victim. They managed to have a record as high as twenty three different people. It was a sick and twisted event, and they never did find the culprit.

"Well, I was a third year at Shade at the time," Roman began, each professor paying rapt attention, "I didn't even have a criminal record yet!" he cracked. It earned a chuckle from the three. Glynda's was more akin to a small cough, but the smile on her face after said she found the humor in what he said.

"It was worse than the media was putting out. If they gave everyone the full story then the negative outburst would be too much to handle," a lot of negativity made grimm a big problem. They'd flock to the source as fast as possible.

"His kill count was actually less, but the state they found the bodies in was... less than ideal," the three began to grimace, "limbs would be missing and would turn up days later, sometimes the eyes would be completely gone," he continued, but Oobleck cut him off.

"You said... he? The killer was never identified at all! They only knew it was a student!" the doctor informed. Roman chuckled.

"No, the killer was a he. I knew him personally," Roman stated, the other three professors nearly spewing their drinks out.

"What!?" Glynda asked in shock. Ports eyebrows were raised incredibly high and Oobleck looked very intrigued.

"Yep, good old Martyn Borris, one of the most heroic guys I knew. In the day at least," Roman went on, "figures the guy was a total psycho. He would put on a hero act in the daytime and then at night slip out and do his thing."

"How dreadful! How did you learn it was him?" Port asked.

"Me and my old team were gone for a night out in the town. When we got back we heard him doing his work in the garden," Roman recalled, swishing his wine simply for the sake of it, "we killed him right then and there, quick and quiet. That's how you handle your problems over there. It wasn't the first time people had taken the law into their own hands and killed, but my team leader convinced us that we shouldn't say anything in case we could get blamed for something."

Roman took a sip of wine, clearing his throat before continuing.

"When I found Neo all I could think about was how awful it would be to try and take care of somebody in that filthy kingdom. I took her and we stowed away on a bullhead to Vale. Even though I wanted her to have a better life than she would've had in Vacuo, I only really ended up bringing the Vacuo life to Vale with her," Roman finished looking into his wine. That was true as well. He really did want to keep Neo separate from his criminal life, but he didn't know anything else he could teach her other than how to pick pockets and win fights.

"I... don't know what to say," Port said, surprising the other two longtime professors at the usually talkative man's admittance. To be fair, they were in a similar boat.

"Hah! Don't say anything. It's more insulting than comforting usually," Roman said, "Neo and I are doing fine now. That's all that really matters. She may be a little rough around the edges but give her time and she'll figure it all out. Don't go easy on her though, she'll get lazy otherwise," he snarked. The atmosphere lightened a little, the teachers all laughing a bit at that. It'd been about an hour while he told that story. He didn't even realize the bottle was empty. The other professors got up to leave, saying their goodbyes and customary 'I look forward to working with you'.

Glynda stayed behind for a moment, before turning and facing him. He was a little surprised but contained it well. She was no longer glaring at him, instead scanning him up and down before meeting his eyes. Then she bowed her head a little.

"I am sorry," she said, Roman feeling a little uncomfortable with the sudden apology, "I fear I misjudged you terribly. I thought that perhaps you were simply a greedy and hopeless man who dragged a young girl into his world, but I see now that regardless of what you may have done in the past, you did it because you cared for your daughter." That was an incredible turn of events. He actually felt kinda... bad now knowing that he lied to her. That is until she continued.

"I'll admit, when you gave me that fake ID back at the police station, I wanted to turn you in then and there."

Wait, what?

"But Ozpin... when Ozpin heard Ms. Rose look up to you with such admiration he believed that you may have a chance to change for the better."

Wait... What?

"It is impossible to lie to me, Roman. I work with Ozpin every day. I know when you, any teacher, or any student is not being honest with me. The students do not know, and we will keep it that way to help better your image here."

Wait. Seriously wait. What!?

"You're... you're joking right?" he asked. She shook her head. She had the evidence and reason to look him up or even kill him and she just didn't!?

"But after hearing your story, your honest and true story, I know now that Ozpin was right, and I misjudged you," she moved out of his doorway and turned to leave, "I will give you the chance to turn over a new leaf. I hope that you will make the most out of the opportunity. If you don't, then I will not hesitate to do everything in my power to protect the students."

Roman just stood there, silent, and staring where she once was. She chuckled a little and began to walk away, stopping to say one last thing.

"And do know that I did genuinely enjoy our conversations up until this point. I do my best to always be honest with myself. You should try doing the same."

With that she was gone, and Roman could only think one thing.

_Fuck._

_Fuck!_

_FUCK!_

You mean he wasn't the very best at everything he did!? He thought his semblance had worn off when Ozpin said he had to work with kids! What the hell!

He closed his door finally and took a much needed deep breath. It was fine. It was okay. As long as he gave this whole 'not being a criminal' thing the old college try, he'd be fine!

_I can't tell Neo. _

The girl would give the 'I told you so' of a lifetime if she learned this! All he had to do was be a good guy.

Who was he kidding?

He slouched his way to his bed and fell forward onto it. He had to work with that woman tomorrow. All day, from morning combat class to afternoon combat class. And she'd be watching him like a hawk the whole time. And yet he couldn't bring himself to blame Glynda. She was only doing her job.

He blamed Ozpin, the bastard man he was.

He kicked off his boots and flung off his gloves. He placed his hat gently on the bedside table and didn't bother with much else. He took it back. That woman wasn't a beast or a force of nature.

She was the Brothers damn sun, and he was at her unyielding, intense wrath. He could do nothing but try and shade himself from her while she would beat down every day.

_I should've just stayed with Cinder. At least she didn't make me think I was safe before she threatened to set me on fire._

* * *

It was a bright new day, and Neo was awoken by the sound of heavy construction in the room across from her. What the hell were they doing in there!? The rest of team JNPR slowly woke as well, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Neo jumped out of bed and rushed to the shower just as she heard Nora shout 'FIRST!' followed by the realization that Neo had already locked the door. Her protest could be heard even as Neo turned the shower on.

When all was said and done, they were all ready, each dressed in their Beacon provided uniform. Neo decided to wear the black stockings with the skirt, not used to her legs feeling so barren.

They opened the door just as team RWBY dashed out their own dorm. The five, all leaning on Jaune, collapsed. The blonde got up and bolted.

"C'mon, we're gonna be late!" with that they all began a mad dash across campus and to their first lass. Neo was a little bit interested. Grimm studies? There had to be something cool worth learning there!

* * *

Neo was wrong.

Oh so very, very wrong.

The large man who taught the class must've missed the memo that they were supposed to be learning. He began simply enough but it soon dissolved into talk of himself when he was younger and him boasting about his own feats. What was she supposed to learn from this!?

To make matters worse, She tried to sit next to Ruby, only for Yanf to cock block her and place Ruby between Blake and herself. So now Neo was forced to sit next to the buxom blonde while she was slowly bored to death.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere changed, with Port asking the students if they had what it took to be a real hunter. When did that cage get there? What was in it? Whatever it was, Neo saw this as a chance to get her blood pumping again, but before she could raise her hand, a very frustrated Weiss shot up with the exclamation of 'I do sir!' stealing Neo's chance of getting out of her seat.

Weiss left and returned in her combat attire, poised and ready to fight whatever was caged there. Clearly a grimm, if the class name was anything to go off of (though she'd already been disappointed once so you never know). Professor Port yelled 'begin!' and cut the lock, a boarbatusk hopping out of the cage.

Weiss's fight went well enough. Her team routed her on, but she got progressively more and more angry whenever Ruby tried to voice her support. That wasn't fair! Ruby just wanted to be friendly!

When the fight was done and the class was over Weiss stomped out the room, Ruby chasing after before anyone could tell her not to. When the group entered the hallway, it was to see Weiss leaving, a hurt looking Ruby standing alone. Yang and Blake tried to console her but it didn't seem to work.

Neo glared after Weiss. How dare she be mean to such a clearly innocent and friendly person! Neo began to chase after the heiress, already having a plan in mind. Yang and Blake saw this and followed, not trusting the girl to do something drastic or illegal.

Neo rounded the corner to see Weiss standing alone on the balcony. Neo wanted to go over and slap the girl silly but remembered that he had to try and do things the civilized way. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Then she activated her semblance. Little did she know, she had an audience. Yang was about to move but Blake stopped her, both staring at the scene playing out before them.

Weiss heard footsteps behind her, and when she turned it was to see who it was she didn't hide her surprise.

Stood across from the now stunned Weiss was a mirror image of herself, arms crossed and a downright venomous glare on her face. Or, her own face? What was even going on!?

"Wh-who are you? What are you?" the real Weiss asked. The fake Weiss merely scoffed silently, tapping her foot and throwing her head to the side.

"What is she doing?" Yang asked, thoroughly confused at the sight before her. Blake shrugged, the two both turning to continue watching.

"This isn't funny! This kind of thing is illegal you know! Impersonation an important person!" real Weiss yelled the fake Weiss rolling her eyes before transforming in front of her. This time, it was Professor Goodwitch. Her glare made Weiss shrink, even if it wasn't the real one, before the heiress bounced back from it.

"Stop messing with me! What are you trying to get at you, you, whoever you are!?" Weiss asked, now one hundred percent frustrated. The fake Goodwitch transformed once more, only this time the outcome was a grimm. Weiss stared aghast as the impersonator kept transforming between a grimm and Weiss again.

"Are, are you calling me a monster!?" Weiss asked, now scared that she might be going insane. Finally they stopped, now becoming a familiar criminal.

"What do you want!?" the girl shrieked, fanning her hand out in front of her. Neo rolled her eyes and took out her scroll, typing something without even looking at the girl in white. Before Weiss could reprimand her for her incredible rudeness, the girl thrust the wall of text in her face. That was... very fast. The note right in front of her eyes, so she really had to read it. It read as such:

_Look, you and most of your team clearly don't like me. That's fine, I don't really care for any of you three. But Ruby is an incredible person and you aren't even giving her a chance! Look at you! Skulking around, shouting and whining all over the place! Is this really who you came here to be? I may have done some illegal stuff in the past, but it'd be downright criminal to spit in the face of someone like Ozpin by not trusting in his decision to make her leader. So you're not leader? So what!? You can still prove your worth by being a better you and showing the whole world that they're wrong about what they thought about you. That's why I'm here, are you really gonna let me be here for a more wholesome reason than you?_

The message was... shockingly effective if she had to admit. The short girl was right. Looking at it from an outside view, Weiss must've looked like a truly foul individual. She came her to break out of that, not perpetuate it! Weiss looked at Neo, the small girl never once wavering in her glare. Maybe she was right. Maybe she was acting a little like a monster.

"I... I'm sorry," Weiss said, looking away. Neo tapped her foot and raised her eyebrow.

"What? Isn't that what you wanted?" the heiress asked. Neo sighed and transformed, this time into Ruby.

"Oh. Right, eh heh... ahem," the heiress bowed, "I am sorry to you too though. I've been nothing but spiteful of you as well and you still went out of your way to help me. Thank you for that."

Neo finally smiled and winked at the heiress, turning and skipping off while throwing a wave behind her as she rounded the corner. While Weiss collected her thoughts, Yang and Blake left, wondering what Neo's message had said that had such a quick effect on the heiress. If it got her to loosen up a little and start being a little nicer though... maybe they'd give her more of a chance. Until she proved herself not a threat. As the two rounded the corner they jumped in surprise.

Neo stood there, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. She looked between the two of them and no message or sign language was needed to tell what it meant.

_Really?_

Yang blushed and Blake had the decency to look sheepish. She simply rolled her eyes again and typed out another message.

_Leave them be for now. I'm getting food, you're welcome to join._

Yang was about to protest, but caught herself. Didn't she and Blake just agree to give the girl a shot? She looked to her partner. Blake looked to her and nodded. They both turned back to Neo.

"Sure, why not?" Yang agreed. Neo rolled her eyes again this time in amusement. She turned and began walking.

"This doesn't make us friends!" Yang argued. Blake looked at Neo in suspicion still. The short girl simply bowed forward, still not facing them and kept bending down until she was looking at the two from between her legs. She gave a smile and winked, coming up as exageratedly sultry as possible before continuing on her way.

The two stood there, both blushing now. Why was that girl so good at getting a rise out of people?

* * *

Later, Neo and JNPR were in their room when a knock at the door sounded. Neo got it, being greeted by a smiling Ruby, a begrudging Weiss, and an apprehensive Blake and Yang. Team JNPR saw the four and invited them in, the room now cramped with all nine people. Ruby stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, now that we have mitigated the emotions on our team, we felt it was necessary to have an, er, meeting to discuss the uh, member of both our teams?" Ruby finished with a question, confusing everyone. Weiss sighed and face palmed.

"She means to say we should get to know one another now that we're all one task force," that earned a few 'ohhh's before everyone got as comfy as they could in the room. Neo sat on the foot of her bed, Pyrrha sat with her, the two nearly arm in arm. Jaune, Ren, and Nora sat on the floor, Nora next to Ren, Jaune near Pyrrha. Ruby sat on the floor near Neo, Yang sat with her sister. Weiss pulled over the chair from the desk and sat next to Yang and Blake finished their circle sitting between Weiss and Ren on a pillow that she brought from their room.

All was silent for about a minute. Nobody really knew what to say after the awkwardness that had transpired throughout the last two or three days. Nora was the one to break the silence, and she obviously did it with the most controversial question she could ask.

"So Neo, what's it like being a criminal?" everyone leaned back at that except for Neo and Nora who stayed staring at one another. The question wasn't asked with malice, but genuine curiosity. Neo signed her response, letting the three other signers translate.

"Uh, she says 'it's like being a normal person or hunter, only everything is free and cops don't like you'. Oh that's... unfortunate," Jaune translated, adding his two cents in at the end.

"How can you just say that without a problem?" Blake asked, not believing someone could be so content with their crimes. She certainly wasn't and that's what made her different from an actual criminal, right?

Neo bobbed her head back and forth and signed again. This time it was short and Ren answered.

"She says that's just how she was raised," the boy stated simply. He added nothing afterwards, understanding that sometimes you had to do what you had to do to survive. He and Nora understood that concept.

"Who would let Torchwick be a dad though?" Yang asked aloud. It was evident immediately that that was the wrong question to pose to Neo, as the girl suddenly had a look of pure contempt on her face. The aura radiated off of her was tense and hostile. It was the first time she had showcased her murderous intent around them. She signed for a little, the other three taking it in and wincing whenever she made a particularly forceful motion towards Yang. The blonde girl didn't need to speak the language to know what those were. When she was done, Nora took charge and tried to paraphrase what she could, leaving out the more... profane bits.

"Uh, she pretty much asked what makes him different from anyone else's parents. If his main goal is to make sure she's alive and well then he's as good, if not better than other dads. She also had a lot of parts where she talked about punching you in the boobs, but I don't think we need to go into detail there," Nora explained, surprising everyone but Ren with how eloquent she was as opposed to her usual self.

Yang covered her boobs thinking about the phantom pain, she looked over and Neo made another motion. The three translators spoke it in unison.

"Let's fight this one out," they all said, looking at Yang. That was fine by her! If this little girl wanted a beatdown, she'd get one!

"Fine. Tomorrow. Combat class. You. Me," Yang challenged, a cocky grin coming to her face. This girl didn't stand a chance.

* * *

Yang didn't even stand a chance.

It was hard for teams RWB and JNPR to watch Yang get beat so hard. She didn't even manage to land a single hit! It was honestly a little painful. Currently the blonde lay flat on her back, gasping for breath after Neo had punched her in both her boobs.

Neo folded her umbrella back up and used it to support herself as she leaned forward to stare down Yang. She quickly whipped out her scroll and typed something before shoving the device in Yang's face.

_Now I'll think about forgiving you for your harsh words._

Okay. Maybe she had misjudged the criminal a little too much. She definitely earned the blondes respect as a fighter, that much was certain.

Yang slowly got back up as Professor Goodwitch came in from off stage. Roman followed behind, hands behind his head and looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Miss Xiao Long, while your strength is clearly your greatest boon, you cannot rely on raw power and speed against an opponent who excels at close quarters maneuvering. That, and you can't expect your semblance to get you out of every plan gone wrong," Goodwith explained standing straight with her usual stern disposition. She nodded to Roman. He stepped up and looked over Neo as though it was the first time he'd seen her.

"Well, kid, you've certainly got talent. While it's obvious you excel in a fight of dodging and countering, you're only really lucky that your opponent doesn't utilize dust. Had she had ice or gravity dust you might have been in a bad spot had you gotten stuck," she nodded and practically pranced away. Nobody commented, realizing that the girl could probably do what she just did to almost any of them.

"Hear that kids? Natural ability means nothing if it's being put against experience! You can be the most fastest person on the streets, but if your opponent decides to use that speed against you you'll only succeed in costing yourself the fight, or worse, your life," the thief explained. While students grumbled, nobody could deny that it was sound advice.

"Now then, our next fighter will be..."

* * *

**Ah, a shorter and more packed chapter. Next time we'll be getting to a part I think a lot of you want to see. I won't spoil it, you probably know if you know the first season well. Sorry about the graphic parts in this chapter. Crime isn't always pretty.**

**For now have a lovely time, and don't be biting off more than you can chew, ya hear!?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again, all! We're here another day with MTYcC! Today we get into an **_**arc **_**I think we've all been waiting for. Eh? Eh?**

**Fuck you guys I thought it was funny.**

**At any rate, enjoy the chapter and please remember to review and follow!**

* * *

Neo had to admit that she had also misjudged her companions a little prematurely at first. It had been a few weeks now and she had begun to learn more about her new team. They weren't as cut and dry as she had first thought.

Simply going down the list; Ruby was nowhere near as innocent as she once thought, the girl had a mean streak when it came to fighting, taking the chance to exploit any weakness she saw. Good for her, that made Neo proud.

Her sister was still clearly not fully on board with the idea of working with a criminal but the two had begun to spar more, which was helping form a camaraderie between the two. Yang never managed to land a hit, but she was slowly getting better at keeping her cool, not that Neo didn't do her best to break the girl's composure. They had developed somewhat of a rivalry, clearly more one-sided on Yang's part, but a rivalry nonetheless.

Blake was perhaps the most apprehensive still, going as far as to avoid conversation with her but no longer objecting to having to be in her presence during team meetings and classes. She would still shoot the odd suspicious glare every so often but that was about it.

Weiss was a surprisingly good friend once you got past her initial bitchiness. Neo and the girl would sometimes spar against one another, having similar fencing and stabbing style weapons. Weiss was actually capable of landing hits too, albeit because she caught Neo by surprise the first time. She remembered it so vividly.

/\\-/\\-/\

_It was another combat class. Goodwitch had called her and Weiss up to the ring. Weiss bowed beforehand, Neo following suit with a much more cocky one. The two dropped into ready stances, Weiss narrowing her eyes and Neo yawning._

"_Begin!" Goodwitch called, the two immediately dashing to meet each other. Weiss attempted to stab at Neo in several jabs, the criminal dodging each by a hair's breadth. In turn Neo began retaliating, with each dodge she'd throw a punch or a kick at the heiress, forcing her aura down little by little. Neo was in the middle of another jab when Weiss flung herself back, surprising Neo with how she seemed to simply float away._

_Before Neo could move she felt cold. She shivered but shrugged it off, finally deciding to use her own weapon in this duel. Her muscles tensed as she unsheathed her hidden blade from her parasol. She held the sword in a grip similar to Weiss and prepared to move._

_Only she couldn't._

_She looked down to see her feet stuck frozen to the ground. She looked up to see Weiss imitating the yawn she had done before the match started. So that's what that felt like, huh? Neo was about to simply break the ice with her weapon when she felt a new weight in her sword arm. She looked to see that Weiss had completely frozen the handle of her sword to her hand! The sudden weight of the ice made Neo stagger and her strike to the ice only cracked it._

_She looked and saw Weiss flying at her, like actually flying too! Her feet weren't even touching the ground but the heiress was still picking up speed! Neo had only a second to think before the ice queen was upon her. She stabbed away at Neo's aura for a bit before winding up for a large jab._

_At the last second Neo had thrown all her weight backwards, dodging the blow. She used all the strength in her sword arm, which still had a large chunk of ice stuck to it, and swung at the heiress. Out of instinct Weiss moved to parry the blow and disarm her opponent._

_Only the strike broke the ice instead, and Neo continued moving her blade downwards before stabbing the ice at her feet. That was an incredible amount of faith to put into a move, but it had the desired outcome and Weiss was too shocked to immediately move again._

_That is, until she got kicked dead center in the face. Oh, it was so on now._

_The ensuing fencing match between the two was like a graceful dance, neither opponent wanting to give the other any ground or room to work with. Neo realized she wouldn't get anywhere with a head on fight and decided to do what she had been taught all her life; play dirty._

_Instead of a parry and riposte like the heiress had expected, Neo did a full split, dropping straight down and under the heiress' guard, Weiss moved to stab down at the girl, but before she could, Neo broke honor code number one. Everyone in the class winced, even Goodwitch flinching a little bit._

_Weiss meantime was stuck wide eyed and pale. A sweat began working its way onto her face and then she began to look a little green, as though she'd throw up at any second. Finally, her eyes rolled back and she passed out, collapsing to the floor like a rock. People were silent, and it was a minute before Goodwitch or Roman were able to respond._

"_Uh, Neo—I mean, Ms. Politan wins..." Roman called, looking at his little monster. Everyone was still silent. How could they not be. After a shot as vicious as that? Yes, it was as it sounds._

_Neo had wound up and thrown all her weight into a punch aimed directly at the heiress' crotch. Having not expected the blow, she hadn't moved her aura to shield herself, taking the full force of the blow. Neo moved to poke the unconscious Weiss a few times. Her face was still frozen in pain and her eyes were still rolled back._

_Whoops. Looks like she may have underestimated her own strength again._

\/-\/-\/

Weiss had since made a full recovery, but had stopped talking to Neo for a week. That was fair.

Moving on to the other half of her team, she didn't know what to think.

Ren was always quiet, sometimes more quiet than herself which scared her. He had sagely advice and would meditate in the middle of the room. He had the patience of somebody who had seen death's doors multiple times and Neo quickly learned why.

Living with Nora had been something she had to acclimate to. The warrior was a ticking time bomb of energy and bad ideas. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she would start talking in her sleep about how the room was going to freeze over and a giant snake would try and consume the world.

Weird.

She also would sometimes surprise hug Neo, which left the girl on edge for a variety of reasons. How'd someone so loud sneak up on _her _of all people? How didn't she hear anything? How did nobody else hear anything? Why did Nora never realize that her hugs were slowly draining the life out of her? Truly Ren was a stronger person than she'd ever be.

Pyrrha was an interesting case to Neo. She was particularly easy to embarrass and didn't often know how or what to contribute to a conversation.

All-in-all, she was almost as socially inept as Ruby sometimes.

The champion would apologized frequently, as though afraid that she was doing everything wrong. It was obvious that she had _something _for her team leader, but she never acted on it. Couple all that with the fact that the girl had been the only one so far to beat Neo's ass seven ways to Sunday? Neo was intrigued, and she wanted to learn more about the anomaly that was Pyrrha Nikos.

Then there was Jaune.

Oh boy was there Jaune.

There he was on one side of the ring.

"Ahh!"

And there was on the other side of the ring now.

Yes, Neo had quickly learned that Jaune may not have been the incredibly strong hero she had first thought. The boy had been getting thrown around the arena like a sack for the last few weeks and it was becoming more and more difficult to watch for the rest of them.

His main offender was Cardin Winchester, the same boy Roman had accidentally launched off the cliff. The large boy was not that skilled of a fighter, which made Jaune's repeated losses at his hands all the more difficult to watch.

"And that's match. Again," Roman droned, having to always be the one to get Cardin off of Jaune's back. The asshat would always try to kick the boy while he was down and Glynda had given Roman a look when he just sat and did nothing the first time.

"Arc's aura is in the no-no zone," Roman announced, some people laughing at the teacher, others at Jaune, "when the Vytal Festival comes around, getting put into this state would be the end of your fight and that would just be a shame, now wouldn't it?"

The class hadn't started trusting Roman. Far from it really. But many saw the advice he had and the lessons he gave for what they were. Sure he was a total ass about it, but the man gave much more real and blunt advice than many of the teachers did. That's not to say that Roman was anywhere near as good a teacher as Goodwitch, but many of the students had actually put him slightly above Port.

An online forum had actually started going around Beacon. One that Neo detested with all her heart. It would pop up in conversation from time to time, students asking one another if they'd seen the 'standings' as of late.

Said forum was titled 'Who's the hottest teacher at Beacon and why?' and it had been bothering Neo to no end that Roman was only a few votes under Goodwitch. Why was her dad on that list!? She did not need to hear girls talking about his 'criminal charm' or how he was 'dangerous but in a handsome way'. What did that even mean!?

As class broke out, Jaune dejectedly joined back up with his team, their words of encouragement doing little to help improve his mood. The nine of them went to the mess hall, and his poor mood only seemed to continue there.

"Jaune? Are you... doing okay?" Pyrrha asked. The boy looked up, noticing now that all his teammates and friends were looking at him.

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?" the boy nervously stated, everyone looked at one another before looking back at him, eyebrows raised.

"It's just that you seem... not okay," Ruby supplied, Neo nodding along with her.

"Is it Cardin?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune looked around as though searching for an answer.

"Who? Cardin? Nah, he's just messing around!" he said, trying to smile. Everyone's groans of frustration made him wilt a little. Neo signed something.

"Yeah! He is a stupid, ugly sack of shi—" Ren quickly covered Nora's mouth before looking to Neo, very unamused. Neo simply looked away and pretended to whistle.

"Cardin's not just a jerk to me! He's a jerk to everyone," Jaune stated as though that made it better. Just as Pyrrha was about to tell him that he could ask them for help, a pained yelp came from across the hall. It was team CRDL, pulling on the ears of a rabbit faunus and jeering at her. She was clearly in pain if her face and protests were anything to go off of.

"Despicable," Blake muttered, Weiss nodding her head in agreement. Neo sat by, knowing that she wasn't allowed to handle things the way she normally would. She really wanted to punt that boy in the balls. Nobody else was even helping! They were just looking on, some even laughed!

Before any of them could comment on the scene more, a cane swung by and whacked Cardin in the noggin.

"Ow! What the hell!?" the bot turned to see Roman, standing arms crossed over his cane, and an eyebrow thrown up. People seemed to leer at him but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"I was asked to break up any fights that started among the kiddies. Run along now or I'll swing for more than your head," Roman stated, running a hand past his hair. Some girls in the crowd swooned at that. Neo almost threw up because of them.

"What's a filthy criminal gonna tell me what I can and can't do? Last time I checked, you've been known for robbing these animals more than anyone!" the armored boy spit, gaining some agreement from the crowd. Roman just sighed.

"Okay you miscreant! Let me tell you a little bit about the world of crime!" Roman began, students looking to each other in curiosity, "first of all, I rob faunus because people like you won't stop me from doing it!"

People grew uncomfortable at the sad reality. By picking faunus targets one could get away with a lot more than they would a human.

"And two, I've robbed humans, hunters, councilmen, women, and elderly alike, because on the streets you can't discriminate against your next pay day," Roman continued. Now everyone was surprised that he would so openly admit that he had committed any crimes.

Neo looked around the table, gauging everyone's reactions. For the most part, each of her teammates was actually agreeing with the thief. To her surprise, even _Blake _was nodding along, a surprise considering how anti-Roman she was.

"So are you really going to tell me that _I'm _the racist one here?" some people started shouting in support of the faunus girl but Roman silenced them with a hand.

"None of you are any better you know?" he said smoothly, many people wincing or looking away, "sure you're not _supposed _to fight unprecedented fights, but we also have security cameras, so really anyone could've stepped in before I did. Right now, this is the same as if you watched me hold somebody up and just watched me. Anyone of you has the ability to fight, or else, why are you even here? Here's a tip, you don't need to go to Beacon to be a coward."

With that Roman walked away, not even looking back as people started to murmur. Was he right? Was it okay to say that he was right? He was a criminal so surely what he said had to be taken with a grain of salt, and yet, it was shockingly sound reasoning.

All this and more was discussed, and in the confusion and hub-bub, Jaune slipped away.

* * *

"You handled that fairly well, all things considered," Glynda stated as he walked out the mess hall. He turned to her and shrugged.

"All I did was tell 'em what was true. If they're all gonna come to the 'illustrious Beacon Academy' then they need to do well by the schools name. No point in bringing up a generation of hunters who just watch and wait," Roman mused, the deputy nodding along.

"Quite right. It does nobody any service to teach the next line of hunters if they'll only use the license for personal gain," she spoke, the two walking along to the faculty rooms. For a while it was silent. Neither had much to say to the other and Roman was still afraid that the witch would throw him off the cliffside into the ocean at any moment.

"I have a request for you," Glynda started abruptly, breaking the silence, "the first year students have a trip to the Forever Fall soon and the professor for the class had an 'emergency' to take care of, leaving me in charge of _all _of them. Damn Peach," that last part was muttered.

"Okay?" Roman asked, already half knowing what she was going to ask.

"Would you mind taking care of combat classes while I am away?" she asked. Oh. That wasn't what he was thinking at all.

"For the second years?" he assured, she nodded to the question, "sure, I guess I can take care of the little vermin on my own."

"Thank you Roman. That helps me a great deal," she said, and did a small, polite curtsy. He nodded back.

"Yeah it's whatever. If anything the second years have been better to me than the first years have," he went on, Glynda nodding in agreement. The second year class of Beacon academy had adapted incredibly well to Roman's presence. Coco Adel had even begun speaking to the man after classes about where he shopped and what designer did his coat. He liked that kid. She had a fire in her belly and a fight in her eyes.

"I am sure the first year class will warm up to you. They are still in the honeymoon phase of being hunters-in-training," Glynda stated. He chuckled. That was fair. Right now all they did was spar and do classes, no missions or death yet. They'd learn more in time.

"Very well, I will make the announcement next class," Goodwitch said, before sighing a bit.

"What's all this now?" he asked, the professors sudden exasperation feeling misplaced. She shook her head and kept her stride.

"It's nothing, truly," she stated, "it is simply tiring to be the go-to fill in _and _the deputy all at once. It often leaves very little in the way of personal time."

"You ever try finding something to ease your mind or destress?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you suggesting?" she asked, slightly suspicious of whatever ways of 'destressing' Roman could come up with.

"Well... I might have a little something that I got off the streets a while back in my room," he began. She looked affronted.

"Are you suggesting I use non-prescribed narcotics!?" she whisper yelled at him. He laughed. At her! Excuse her for not wanting to do that do herself!

"Relax Glynda, it's not as bad as you think. Besides, look at you, you're practically got a nervous twitch by this point," he claimed, Glynda unconsciously running a hand over her temple to check, "it's legal in Vacuo and Mistral, I just had to procure it in a less legal way here!"

"Things that are legal in Vacuo are often illegal everywhere else," she stated, he put his hands up.

"Look do you want to relax or not?" he asked.

She looked him in the eyes and then thought about all the paperwork she still had to do for her own class, Ozpin, and Beacon. It was practically a mountain looming over her. She shuddered.

"Fine. This better not be too criminal," she demanded, changing course for his room. He chuckled. This was bound to be interesting.

* * *

"Since when was the couch this soft?" Glynda asked. Roman sighed. She wasn't on the couch, she was on the coffee table.

In hindsight, getting the professor high may not have been the greatest idea Roman had. He thought it would help, which it did, but now he had to deal with this! It was obvious the woman had never even thought about smoking, because she coughed her way through the stub he gave her and she was already blazed.

He had forgone smoking, knowing that having someone sober on hand made things easier for everyone. That being said, the normally tidy professor had let her hair down, stumbled out of her heels, and threw her cape off to the side. Her glasses stayed on her face, but were currently crooked.

"I'm hungry," she stated suddenly, going over to his kitchen and raiding his fridge. Well, looks like he'd need to go food shopping again.

"Do you think that any of the students know that we're just living here?" she asked him. He groaned, knowing that indulging in the questions would only make things worse for himself.

"I'm gonna go sleep now," wait this was _his _room, "lock up when you're done here? Thanks Roman."

And with that she stumbled into his bedroom and passed out face first on his bed. He sighed and moved her into a more decent position, not wanting to walk in on her the next morning only to find her sprawled across the bed, legs bent awkwardly, blouse untucked, and skirt riding up slightly as she was now. After fixing all of that (making sure not to put his hands where they weren't supposed to be), he left the room with as much grace as he could, closing the door behind him. Looked like he was sleeping on the couch today. At least the actual couch was a lot more comfortable than the coffee table.

"She's gonna be so pissed at me when she wakes up," he chuckled, laying down and going to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, in team JNPR's dorm, Pyrrha had just come back looking troubled. She had gone to try and speak to Jaune, and when she came back she looked quite sad. Neo looked on in curiosity. She didn't particularly care for how the confrontation went, only if it would make sleeping in the same room as both of them awkward.

Pyrrha didn't seem keen on opening up though, and Neo shrugged it off. Sure, she was part of this team now and she didn't mind some of these people. But deep down she knew that she was living in a different world than them. She wasn't about to make their problems her problems unless it would make her life easier, like with Weiss and Ruby's problem.

That being said, Jaune was a friendly guy, and it kinda sucked to see him get pushed around so easily. She wanted to say 'just stand up for yourself' but even she knew that wasn't the right way to respond to these situations. She stayed awake later than the rest of JNPR, until Jaune walked in. He saw her and she gave him an unimpressed look. She signed at him.

_Quit making the team worry. It'll hurt them as much as it'll hurt you, _she finished, and he sighed. He signed back a short _sorry, _then went to his own bed and passed out. She rolled her eyes as she prepared to do the same. What a big dummy! There were at least four people who cared enough to help him and he would just bottle it all up instead!

Neo went to sleep, thinking about how much easier it was when she only had to worry about Roman's whining.

* * *

The following week or so was frustrating for team JNPR.

Jaune had started following Cardin and his team around, doing whatever the bully said. Neo offered to go beat some sense into Jaune and stab some life out of Cardin but that earned her a few glares. Looks like her team wasn't a fan of solving things the _fun _way.

"We can't just do something illegal just because it'll make things easier. That's wrong," Pyrrha said, Weiss and Yang nodding along. Neo pouted and Nora patted her on the back.

"Don't worry Neo, we'll break his legs some day!" the ginger claimed, Neo nodding along viciously. The others sighed, deciding that they'd need to work on reforming Neo a little more.

"We have that trip to Forever Fall coming up tomorrow, remember?" Ruby said, trying to lighten the mood and make her friends feel a little better about Jaune's weird behavior and Neo's less ideal solutions.

"Yes we do, and I for one can't see why professor Peach can't gather these field samples herself," Weiss huffed, not liking the idea of having to trek through the outdoors. There was dirt! And sap! And more dirt! What if any of that got on her!?

"Yeah seriously. By the way, have any of you noticed Professor Goodwitch has been spending quite an awful lot of time with our resident thief?" Yang asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Everyone chuckled a bit except for Neo who threw her spoon at Yang's face, hitting her in the nose.

"Oh relax Neo, I'm sure that they're just doing teacher stuff like paperwork or talking about staplers!" Ruby tried to assure her. Only Ruby's obvious lack of knowledge on what adults did behind closed doors was not helping her feel any better.

Who knew? Maybe they were just doing paperwork.

* * *

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HUMILIATED I WAS WHEN I WOKE UP!?" Glynda shouted, currently holding him upside down and suspended above his coffee table.

"It's been like a week! Besides, I'm the only one who saw you like that!" Roman retorted. That seemed to only make her angrier.

Yes, when the deputy had woken up the memories of the night before came crashing to the forefront. She had stomped out of his room, heels still missing, and woken him with a punch in the face. She'd been angry at him ever since.

"Why did you think that was a good idea!?" she yelled. He rose one finger, though because he was upside down, it looked like he was pointing towards the floor.

"Technically you were the one to agree to—OW! Dammit woman that hurts!" he cried as she slammed him into the floor before dropping him altogether. She tried to compose herself, straightening her skirt and glasses. Her face was still red, from both embarrassment and rage, and she took a deep breath which she huffed out.

"Ahem, I believe I have gotten it out of my system now," she stated calmly. Roman got up and put his hat back on, putting a hand to his head as his blood flow returned to normal.

"Remember that tomorrow you will be in charge of the second year combat classes while I am away," she stated, turning to leave after using her semblance to repair his door. She had destroyed it upon coming to his room for the eighth day consecutively to tell him how humiliated she felt and how if he did anything to her while she slept that she'd tear off his scrotum. He wisely chose not to tell her that she had pretty much given him an up-skirt shot when she bricked onto his bed.

"Yeah, I got it, please just knock next time," he asked. She turned quick as a whip and glared him down, and he wisely added, "uh, I mean you're always welcome here!"

She made to leave but stopped and looked around the hallway before turning back to him.

"I... may ask for your assistance again in relaxing. Hopefully in a much more civilized way next time," she added, the second part with a look that promised pain. He saluted.

"It's a date," he said shaking off the fear of death.

She rolled her eyes, a small and barely detectable blush on her face. She turned and left, closing the door behind him.

"Oh thank the Brothers I thought that was the end," he said falling back and laying on the floor.

He'd have rathered paperwork.

* * *

Forever Fall was pretty. That was about it though. Neo personally thought it was too red, that, and the insects buzzing around her ears every so often were starting to drive her into a fit of rage. She really felt like stabbing something and Ren had her channel that energy into jamming the taps into the trees for sap.

Pyrrha was joining her in her abuse of the trees. The girl had watched Jaune walk off with CRDL and immediately set about doing anything to take her mind off the boy. Neo wished they'd just fuck and relieve the tension already.

All of a sudden there was a racket over the hill. Pyrrha and Neo looked to one another, before it went silent again. The two shrugged it off, going back to stabbing trees. This was how sisterhood was formed! Just two angry girls, two tree taps, and a lot of trees.

After having to pin Nora to the ground while Ren got more sap, the four were taking a break. They were about to get back to work when three boys burst out of the bushes, running and screaming about a really big ursa. Neo stopped one and raised her umbrella up to his throat with the blade extended. Pyrrha took charge from there.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"There's a big ursa! A-and Cardin's still back there!" the boy said, yelping when Ruby ran up, pushing him out of the way and standing in his place. Neo dropped her blade quickly, not wanting to accidentally stab the girl in the face.

"I'm here too! What's wrong? What happened?" the young Rose asked.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled, running off. Neo and Ruby looked to one another before running off to follow.

Meanwhile, jaune was not having a good time. There was an ursa major, easy to see based on its size and spines, and it was currently trying to bare down on him and Cardin. The larger boy had been taken out of the fight from an earlier strike. It had caught him off guard while he was trying to strike Jaune. The blonde did something with his aura and had done a number on Cardin's hand.

Currently, said blonde was standing over him, though, protecting him from the beast as it tried to crush them both. The beast's weight was too much for him and so he slashed at it. It stumbled back but came back angrier, going for a large swipe from the left. Without even looking, the blondes shield raised, almost unnaturally, like he didn't even know it, blocking the strike with a loud thunk and giving him the window to cleave the monsters head from it's shoulders.

In the bushes, Ruby and Neo were staring at Pyrrha. Pyrrha laughed and explained herself.

"Well, Ruby you have your speed, Neo has her illusions, and I have polarity," Neo's jaw dropped. That was so unfair! Almost everything today was made of metal! Pyrrha smiled at Neo's pout. Neo pouted more because of that.

They watched Jaune help Cardin up, saying something to the larger boy with a resolute look upon his face. The three girls moved to get back to the clearing before Jaune spotted them.

* * *

Back at the school, Jaune stood on the rooftop. He heard the door to the roof open and looked back to see Pyrrha and Neo. He looked away in shame and guilt. No, he needed to do this. He turned back around.

"Pyrrha I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you away when you offered to help," he said, clearly unhappy with his choices thus far. Pyrrha hadn't told anyone else what had happened still, but Neo went with the amazonian to see the goofball so that neither them wouldn't have the chance to mess up again.

Call her selfish, call her good friend (the most amazing friend, even) but she didn't want to have to deal with Jaune's self loathing and Pyrrha's sexual frustration any longer. She came to get results. Plus it just _hurt _to watch him strike out with Weiss every time. She was ruthless and he was persistent. It made for a very difficult scene.

Somewhere along the way while Neo was thinking, Pyrrha had pushed the boy over and was now commenting on his stance and form. _Really? Just go for it, woman! _Neo took charge. Stepping forward, she swiftly pushed Pyrrha over. The champion stumbled and fell, not expecting the push and was caught by Jaune, still on the floor. The two blushed and looked back to Neo, who winked, signed something to Jaune, and then disappeared in a shatter of glass.

"Wh-what did she say just now?" Pyrrha asked, still being held by Jaune. The boy quickly realized as much and let go, the two quickly and awkwardly separating.

"Uh, sh-she said 'now kiss' and then left," he stammered, both going red again. It was quiet before they looked at each other again, this time not being able to resist laughing at the absurdity of the girl.

"She's an interesting one. One minute she's scaring us with talk about murder, the next she's trying to play matchmaker," Pyrrha said, Jaune going red again and nodding along.

"Yeah, you should see some of the things she signs. She... she might really need some help growing out of that," Jaune said, recalling some of the downright dreadful things she'd suggested at times.

The two shared another laugh and looked at one another. Pyrrha noticed the look in Jaune's eyes. Determined to do better, to grow. There was something else. Something familiar. It wasn't quite as strong, but it was the same look he gave Weiss when he was pining for the girl. Only now it was focused on her. Her inner school girl squealed, but she remained mostly composed on the outside.

"Hey uh, maybe we could uh, see a movie some time, if you want?" he asked her tentatively. She covered her smile with a hand and blushed again. It was a good start. Good enough for her, at least.

"That sounds wonderful, Jaune," she agreed, he smiled and the two began to walk back to the dorm together. Hopefully Ren was able to contain Nora well enough. As they walked side by side, nearly touching, Pyrrha was happy. It was all shaping up now. She had one thing at the forefront of her mind.

_Thank you Neo!_

* * *

"So how was the Forever Fall?" Roman asked Glynda, the two sharing a glass of wine in her room for once. Roman had brought it claiming it was their 'date' (bastard) and the two were going over the day.

"There was a minor incident but it resolved itself for the most part," she replied, happy that she had someone she could simply unwind with. Her hair was still up and she was still in her normal outfit, but she'd removed her cape and glasses.

"And the second years?" she inquired. He chuckled.

"They were fine. Only seven injuries," he quipped, earning an eye roll and a laugh from her.

"I suppose that's better than eight, then we'd have two teams down for the count," she responded. He grinned at her comeback, the two continuing to talk for the rest of the night. Who cared, it was the weekend now anyways.

* * *

**Yay! Neo is still a psycho! Granted a high functioning psycho, but regardless. People don't change in a day after all, sometimes they need to be scared straight, like Roman. Point is, don't expect our criminal friends to be perfect just yet. They just handle things different because one is younger and one is older.**

**Also, yes, I changed certain things and maybe had Neo play Cupid. Sue me.**

**Next time, someone else has taken the reigns of Cinder's dust theft operation! Who will it be? We'll find out in the next part!**

**Also, here's an omake. Have a lovely time.**

**Don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: TRTSoHK (The Roman Torchwick's School of Hard Knocks)**

"Okay kids, remember that Goodwitch is gone so I'm the professor for today's class!" Roman called out to the second years.

He liked the second years if he was being honest. They seemed to understand that when he talked about doing something illegal, there was a lesson hidden in it somewhere.

"Yo teach! What are we doing today if the Prof is out?" Coco yelled, many students voicing their curiosity as well.

"I'm going to teach you all how roll with the punches in the Roman Torchwick's School of Hard Knocks!" he announced. The students all looked at each other in confusion.

"Let's begin with some basic pyrotechnics!" he continued.

It was going to be an interesting class.

* * *

"Roman, what happened here?" Ozpin asked, looking at the seven injured students. They would all live and be okay, but there were some breaks, burns, and internal bleeding that they'd have to deal with. Roman answered in a slightly clipped toned.

"I uh, didn't realize that the school had a bomb detector, so while I was teaching the kids how to make their own explosives it went off. Not wanting things to get out of hand, I did the only natural thing; I shot it! And who would've thought that the anti-bomb device would've have exploded so much! That feels like bad design really. Then the explosion from that set off all the bombs that the students were making and then everything else exploded too! I had to shoot the emergency fire sprinklers because they weren't working, and that just set the ceiling on fire," Roman finished. Ozpin and he looked at each other in silence. After a moment, the roof to the currently burning amphitheater collapsed, the whole building now a pile of burning rubble.

"Glynda cannot know of this," Ozpin stated.

"Not on my life, no," Roman replied, both men shaking hands then leaving in opposite directions. When later asked what happened the two would say it was a dust accident. The students would say the same, thanks to a healthy amount of bribing, courtesy of the Roman Torchwick's School of Hard Knocks.


	7. Chapter 7

**hi guys. this whole part of mtycc is going to be in lower case. i'm doing it for all the little people out there.**

**Nah, I'm just fucking with you.**

**So this is where we really start to see some of the changes that happen due to Roman jumping ship with Cinder. Enough talk, let's find out more!**

* * *

It was a dark night. Cinder sat steaming. How could that no good, rotten thief have just disappeared overnight!? One day he was alleged to have been robbing a dust store, the next there was no trace of where he went. All of his safe houses turned up empty, no other criminal scum knew where he went, not even that damn bartender who was supposed to have info on everything in Vale knew what had happened to the glorified thief.

She would find him. And when she did, she would watch him and his little pet burn. Nobody double crossed Cinder Fall.

She needed a new plan. She was not going back to Salem with nothing to show, all because some two-bit crook pulled the wool over her eyes. She didn't want to, but she knew it had to be done.

"Emerald," Cinder ground out. Emerald stepped up tentatively.

"Yes ma'am?" she responded.

"Call up that other bastard. I want him taking over the dust project. It's for his damn men after all."

* * *

The day was like any other. The weather was fine, the season was coming down to its end. The crowds of people appeared like shadows. Strangely the individuals looked like shadows too, now that Neo really paid them any attention. Who knew, maybe in the next season, she'd begin to pay more attention to random citizens.

As of now however, Neo was walking along the busy streets of Vale with team RWBY. Ruby had asked Neo to join her team on the excursion, spouting something about Weiss wanting to check out the competition for the Vytal Festival early, much to the heiress' displeasure.

Neo had initially declined, still not exactly buddy-buddy with the rest of the team. Ruby gave her an incredibly sad puppy face at that. Neo had flicked her on the nose, much to everyone else's surprise. Neo shook her finger at Ruby, a stern expression on her face. Only Neo got away with pulling that kind of face!

Neo had agreed when the young Rose switched tactics and bribed her with promises of ice cream. While Neo was still trying to figure out how the girl had discovered her weakness, everyone else simply sighed. It was hard _not _to know considering all of the girls recreational clothes was decorated in some way with the frozen treat.

So now she found herself walking the streets of Vale toward the docks so that Weiss could _totally not _spy on any potential opponents in the festival.

Speaking of, Neo and Roman had never really cared for the Vytal Festival. Roman always complained that it made the streets too busy while Neo was simply disappointed that they never fully finished off their opponents upon defeat. What's the point of a fighting tournament if there's no bloodshed!? Three out of ten idea, at best.

The docks held nothing of note. A large ship seemed to have docked recently. Neo and Ruby both seemed slightly bothered by the smell of fish but Blake seemed to be in heaven. The two girls made disgusted faces at the bookworm. This was worse than when Neo had accidentally stumbled upon Blake's secret stash of smut. Hadn't that been a surprise, for both parties. Blake had not stopped shooting her dirty looks since. _She _hadn't been the one so do such a poor job at hiding her belongings!

All of a sudden there was a racket from the dock where the large shipped had parked. A young man with beach blonde hair was being chased by two cops. Neo looked on in nostalgia, a smile coming to her face. Team RWBY gave her a sidelong glance before turning back to the scene at hand. The boy had vaulted and climbed up a street lamp with the help of a long, furry tail. He pulled out a banana and scarfed it down quickly. Talk about perpetuating a stereotype. The only time Neo cared for bananas was when they were on top of ice cream.

The boy threw the leftover peel in the face of one of the cops. Neo gave a small nod of appreciation to that one. The boy jumped off the lamp and onto the street, continuing his escape from the authorities. The five girls turned and watched as the faunus dashed past them. Neo caught the subtle wink he threw Blake's way. The two officers continued their chase, it was clear however, that they wouldn't be catching up... well, ever really.

"Quick! After him! We have to observe him!" Weiss proclaimed, bolting off. The other girls could only sigh and follow. As they caught up with the ice queen she searched around in every direction. Ruby ran and rounded the corner to continue looking before they all heard a loud thump. It sounded kind of like someone pushed a really heavy, metal trash barrel over.

The girls all went to check on the young reaper. When they rounded the corner, they saw Ruby on the floor along with another ginger girl laying flat on her back. Neo helped Ruby up and then looked to the other girl. Said girl was currently smiling up at them.

"Salutations!" she greeted happily. Neo already had a weird feeling about this girl.

"Uh, hi?" Ruby tried, waving apprehensively. The other girls just watched with curiosity, "would you like to stand up?"

"I would!" the ginger exclaimed, getting to her feet almost mechanically. Okay, now Neo had a really weird feeling about this girl. For another minute or so they all stood in silence. Eventually Ruby spoke.

"Well, it was nice meeting you friend," Ruby said, turning to leave. As she rejoined the group Yang spoke what neo and the others were thinking.

"She was weird," the blonde commented, Neo nodding along. As they looked forward again they were greeted with the sight of the ginger from before staring at them.

"How did you... but you were... huh?" Yang tried, looking back and forth from the spot she just was, to back in front of her.

"What did you just call me?" she asked, stepping forward. Neo was ready to stab this girl with whatever she had available if she had to.

"Oh uh, she didn't mean anything—" Ruby tried to defuse, only the girl kept stepping closer, looking directly at Ruby.

"Not her. You," she clarified. Okay, Neo was actually a little uncomfortable now. The girl continued, "you just called me... friend? Are we friends?"

"Uh, well I..." Ruby looked past the girl to the other four. All four shook their heads no, "sure?"

The four promptly fell over.

"SENSATIONAL!" the ginger shouted. Neo was ready to run when this girl turned out to be part of a human trafficking ring.

"My name is Penny Polendina!" she introduced. Ruby did the same in kind.

"We were looking for somebody Penny, did you see them?" Ruby asked. Oh right. Neo had forgot about that guy already.

"I haven't seen anyone but you, Friend Ruby," the girl answered. Seriously, was this girl a robot or something?

"Oh, that's okay. What brings you to Vale?" oh great now they were having a conversation. Neo was ready to turn and leave but realized that Ruby still owed her ice cream and reluctantly stayed.

"I'm here for the Vytal Festival!" she claimed. They all looked at her with varying degrees of disbelief. Neo pulled on Weiss's sleeve and made a 'she's all yours' gesture. The heiress suddenly didn't look as enthused about scouting out the competition and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, yes well. Perhaps we should call it a day," she claimed as she turned and left. The rest slowly followed suit, Penny shouting a goodbye as they escaped.

The five girls continued on, Neo wouldn't leave until she had her ice cream. Roman had a saying.

"The second best kind of beer is cold. The first best kind of beer is free," he would say. She applied that to ice cream as well.

After leaving the ice cream shop (Neo had scared the girls with the amount she ate. After all, they didn't have any at Beacon so she had to make up for lost time) the girls walked along the streets of Vale. Upon turning onto a main road they saw a crime scene blocked off by caution tape. There were two officers discussing something before they walked off to investigate further. They caught one thing from them however.

"Probably the White Fang again or somethin'," one of them commented.

This seemed to put two of the people in their party in a bad mood.

"Ugh, I can't believe that those ruffians would do something like this!" Weiss hissed, not hiding her dislike of the group, "they're just a bunch of lowly, despicable criminals! No offense Neo." Neo gave the heiress a peace sign. The comment seemed to offend Blake though.

That's what sparked the fire that heated the ensuing argument.

"Excuse me?" Blake ground out, her and the heiress locking glares. The two had never been great friends, always getting into debates about political awareness and other topics Neo was too bored to keep up with. Sure, Neo knew about the White Fang, Cinder had wanted her and Roman to be working with them and pulling off these heists after all. Well, Roman at least. Apparently she had other plans for Neo, which would only really spit in her face more now that both were under Beacon protection.

The two monochromatic teammates began arguing again. Yang and Ruby could tell this was going to be a big one. Sighing, they made their way back to the bullheads. Weiss and Blake arguing as they followed on autopilot. Neo sighed. At the moment, she wished she was deaf instead of mute. The two sisters looked to have a similar wish.

* * *

They were still going.

Even from team JNPR's room she could hear them. So could the rest of the team. Neo had briefly explained what happened. They could only sigh as they went about their normal business. Neo looked over to see Jaune and Pyrrha working on something together. They were damn near shoulder to shoulder and Neo gave herself a pat on the back. The two had been getting closer. She felt that she was the catalyst. Neo looked out her window into the courtyard. There was a large statue there, one that she saw almost everyday.

There was a slam form across the hall and then all was quiet. The residents of the JNPR room all looked to one another. Neo looked back out the window and saw Blake stomping her way to the statue. It was late so Neo couldn't really see. She decided it would be more entertaining to follow the girl. She expressed as much to the team, but before they could stop her she shattered away.

Blake had just taken off her bow. It felt like an eternity since she was able to do so while not in a completely private setting. She wiggled her ears, letting them breath before someone spoke up behind her.

"I was wondering when you'd take that thing off."

She turned to see the monkey faunus from before. Had he followed her!? She was about to run when he put up his hands in a placating way.

"Relax! I'm here as a friend!" he claimed, staying still to put her at ease. She didn't lower her ready stance but she did speak up.

"Why?" was all she asked.

"Uh, to be friendly?" he replied, "the name is Sun. Sun Wukong."

She relented a little. It was clear he meant no real harm, he was just annoying. As she was about to tell him that they should speak somewhere else, a shattering noise sounded, both faunus turning to see Neo standing on the top of the statue. She had an eyebrow raised and looked at Blake. She pointed to the top of her own head and quirked an eyebrow.

Blake hissed and shook her head. She'd deal with that later.

"Come on Sun. We can talk somewhere else," she told, not explaining who the new girl was. Sun was a little more insistent however.

"Uh, who's that?" he asked, pointing up at Neo. She winked at him and he grinned, winking back. Oh, she liked the spirit in this one. Neo hopped down from the statue and stood beside Sun. Pointing to herself and then Blake, before crossing her arms. Blake groaned, understanding the charades for what they meant.

"Fine! Let's just go already!" she demanded, trudging off. Neo and Sun looked to each other before shrugging and following the girl away.

* * *

"Someone wanna help me try something out?" Roman asked, walking into the teachers lounge. Currently the only other people there was Glynda and Bart.

"Whatever with?" Glynda asked, the doctor also raising a brow inquisitively. Roman reached into his coat and pulled something out. It was shaped like a flashlight but at the narrower end it had a pull cord.

"What on Remnant is that?" Bart asked, observing the object from his seat. Roman laughed.

"Well, on the streets you take up different ways of getting out of sticky situations," _police, _the two professorsthought, "so I picked up tinkering and inventing and I fused it with my knowledge of pyrotechnics to make what I call 'T.W. Get Out Of Jail Free Cards' or a T.W. GOOJFC, for short."

The two adults did not look overly impressed.

"So what does it do?" Glynda chanced.

"Well, if you pull on this cord then the larger end should spark a fire dust shard against a lightning dust shard and that—" he was cut off by the doctor.

"Would cause an immense explosion at point-blank range. Who does this benefit?" Oobleck asked.

"Well, it's a 'get out of jail free' card, not a 'get out of jail unscathed' card. It's really only for emergency situations. Plus the shards are small enough that the explosion can be directed using this durable material I borrowed from the armory," he explained. The other two looked unimpressed with his blatant admittance to robbing the armory of materials.

"Even so, the recoil would be massive! Not to mention that that kind of force is illegal to use on other hunters in a tournament setting," Goodwitch added. Roman sighed.

"You guys are missing the point! This is a great way to clear a room or take down bigger grimm! Everything behind you is fine, everything in front of you for about thirty feet explodes!" he exclaimed. Glynda merely rubbed her temples.

"Does it work?" she asked suddenly. Roman grimaced a little.

"Well, that's why I was asking who wanted to help me test it out," the two were about to argue that they wouldn't be guinea pigs when he explained, "I mean to record results and maybe take me to the infirmary if I dislocated my arm!"

The two were about to ask further questions when a distressed Ruby Rose burst into the room in a flurry of petals. Roman tucked his GOOJFC back in his coat.

"BLAKEANDWEISSHADAFIGHTLASTNIGHTANDBLAKEGOTREALLYMADANDSHERANAWAYANDSHENEVERCAMEBACKANDWEDON'TKNOWWHERESHECOULDBEANDNEOISGONETOO!" she screamed in one breath. The three adults were on their feet immediately. Listening to Oobleck talk made them masters at understanding fast talkers.

"You said Neo is gone too?" Roman asked. He wasn't particularly worried, he knew Neo was a resourceful and smart girl. But if she was with that emo girl then she might snap and try and kill her, and that would be very bad.

"Ms. Rose! Please calm down and explain the situation to us," Goodwitch soothed. Who knew she could do such a thing? The look exchanged between Roman and Oobleck said that they certainly didn't.

"Okay, it started when..."

* * *

"Ozpin what the hell is wrong with you!?" Glynda shouted at the headmaster. Roman and Oobleck were also in the office, watching the tempest of a woman bear down on the man. Ozpin looked to them, both shaking their heads. He gave them a resigned look and addressed the witch.

"Yes, I knew Ms. Belladonna was a faunus and I knew she was once a part of the White Fang. I do not see the issue here, she wouldn't be the first questionable person to have been let into Beacon," _oh you son of a bitch. _The headmaster sighed when Glynda's glare reached eighty percent.

"Fine, I will send out a search party. Ahem. Roman, Bart. You are the search party. Get moving now," both men groaned and got up to leave. Lousy bastard.

"Oh and Glynda, you should go as well."

The shouting continued, even when the deputy followed them to the elevator.

* * *

Neo was pointing and laughing at Blake, the faunus red with one hundred percent anger. Blake had taken her and Sun to a cafe and the three had tea. The faunus had explained her history with the fang to the two and they'd taken it very differently. Sun didn't seem to care all that much. On the other hand...

Neo typed 'hypocrite' on her scroll and kept pointing at it over and over. Sun stayed silent, not really sure what to do. The two girls clearly knew each other, but neither one seemed to like one another. He just sat there awkwardly and used his tail to sip his tea.

"Look I get it okay! Stop mocking me about it!" the girl shouted. They were kind of making a scene.

"Uh, guys? People are kinda watching right now," Sun whispered, Blake slamming her head onto the table and Neo simply smiling and putting her scroll away.

"So what's your plan exactly?" he asked now that things had calmed down. Blake looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked in a very terse tone.

"Well clearly you won't figure out who's doing it if we just sit here!" Sun explained. Neo typed something on her scroll and then slid it over to Blake. She read it once. Read it again and then looked between it and Neo.

"Are you serious!?" she asked, grabbing the girl by the shoulders. Neo nodded.

"Uh, what does it say?" the monkey boy asked, getting the scroll tossed to him. He read it aloud.

_Actually, it is the Fang. Someone came and tried to contract Roman into working with them to steal dust and lead the operation. With him gone, I guess they found somebody else to pick up where he left off._

Huh. Maybe they would figure it out by sitting here.

"So now what?" he asked, truly lost as to what to do with the new information. Blake looked Neo in the eyes. The girl looked back.

"We find them, and stop them," she stated.

"Wait wait wait, we can't just bring down an entire organization ourselves!" he argued.

"Watch me try," Blake said, standing.

"Fine! Brothers, you are going to get yourself killed. If it helps, I heard about a big dust shipment while I stowed away on that ship," Sun said, also getting up and joining Blake. Neo stood too, the three leaving the cafe.

"If the Fang really are stealing dust, then that's where they'd hit next right?" Neo nodded. Blake looked to her with an eyebrow raised. Neo typed and held it up for her to see.

_Rule of theft No. 2, go big, or go home._

Blake sighed. She supposed that made enough sense.

"Fine. It looks like we're staking out the docks," Blake stated, but Neo walked in front of her and stopped. She made a phone gesture and then pointed to the faunus girl.

"You want me to call my team!?" Blake spat, not wanting to think about how much they probably hated her right now. Neo nodded and made a swirling motion beside her head. Blake growled. How ironic.

"I think she's trying to say it'd be crazy not to," Sun added unhelpfully.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Roman was not having a good time.

He was currently wandering the streets of Vale looking for an alley cat. Goodwitch had gone towards the gates of Vale while Oobleck had traversed out towards the industrial area. That left Roman to explore central Vale and towards the harbor district. In public.

Everywhere he went people would point and some even called the police. The Vale authorities were aware of his new position however and wouldn't do anything. He had diplomatic immunity and he was spending it to go out and look for a student who hated him! He definitely deserved a raise or something.

So here he was, the sun setting, and he still had to search his way to the docks. Then he'd have to go back too. Joy.

At any other point he'd say he wished he had company. Right now however...

"I hope they're okay! What if they're not? What if they died!? No Ruby, don't think like that! Think happier thoughts! Right Penny?"

"Precisely! Why not sing to clear your head? I will join you!"

"That's a great idea! Ahem, _Ohhh..._"

Yes Roman was pretty sure he was in hell. He must've died testing the GOOJFC and this was his eternal torment.

"Wait a second, is that smoke?" Red asked, looking towards the docks.

Roman was about to start running when he got a message from Neo. No words, no abbreviations, all that was sent was location coordinates. Right at the docks.

"Alright kids, saddle up! We gotta move!" he proclaimed before dashing off. Neo better have this under control.

* * *

**A little earlier**

Neo, Sun, and Blake sat on a roof overlooking the docks. Sure enough, the dust shipment arrived. Nothing happened after that though, leaving Neo bored and antsy. She wanted a fight! Against criminals who she could do whatever she wanted to and it would only be considered a minor offense!

Sun seemed bored as well, but Blake turned down every attempt he made to strike up a conversation. The girl was focused on the docks. As though suddenly, from the sky, the White Fang would show up and descend and start stealing all the dust.

Suddenly, from the sky, the White Fang descended in bullheads, hopping out and wearing the masked uniforms were several grunts, they got to work stealing all the dust.

Huh, that was a turn.

So was Blake jumping down and trying to play the 'we're the same' card. The Fang members seemed to be hesitant to raise their arms to another faunus.

"You," a snide voice called from the hull of a bullhead. Blake seemed to freeze and all the grunts stood at attention. A man stepped out of the bullhead, dressed in black and with blood red hair. Two horns protruded from his head and he had a long katana sheathed away on his hip. He stood with confidence and look like he was always ready for a fight.

"No..." Blake mumbled. Neo and Sun looked to each other before nodding, Neo stopped the boy from jumping down immediately though. She focused and activated her semblance, before pointing towards a container of dust. She mimed an explosion with her hands and the boy nodded and broke away from her.

Neo took a deep breath and jumped down, landing without a sound. Due to her semblance she walked right up behind the tall, edgy guy. She lifted her sword and plunged down, a smile on her face.

Only for that smile to fall when he stepped to the side and her blade became embedded in the ground. She looked up to see him sneering at her.

"Come now Blake, I thought you were better than this? Working with a human? This is a new low, even for you," Neo pulled her blade out of the ground and pieced her parasol back together. She wore her confident smile and gestured at the faunus to come get her.

"Hmph, very well. I'll kill you before I deal with her," he spat, drawing his blade with a hiss of steel.

"Adam no!" Blake yelled. Adam simply began a charge towards Neo. She was cornered against a shipping crate. As he stabbed her through the abdomen she shattered, and the crate that Adam had just run into promptly exploded.

Blake was confused until Neo and Sun suddenly appeared on either side of her. Neo winked at her and Sun gave her a sly grin. Neo quickly sent something out on her scroll before readying for combat again. A low chuckle could be heard from the smouldering remains of the shipping crate.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, shall we get down to business?" Adam asked, flicking his blade out. It glowed a sickly red color and Blake warned the two not to chance a hit from it. They nodded and assumed ready stances, Neo with her umbrella and Sun whipping out a bo staff.

"Fire!" the bull yelled.

And that's where the battle began.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuun! Cliffhanger!**

**What will happen next time? Will someone die? Will they all live? Who's going to save the day? Does Roman withstand the singing of the two tonedeaf teens!? Find out all this and more, next time!**

**Have a lovely time, and don't bite off more than you can chew!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello again all! It's time for the end of season one! Get ready for what will be my best attempt at creating a fight scene! No more talk, only action! As a result, this chapter is a little bit shorter than normal and I apologize for that.**

* * *

The bullets flew like a storm among the docks. Neo spun her umbrella as fast as she could, swatting the lead aside and dashing forward. The Fang members with swords attempted to intercept her, but she showed them the business end of her parasol.

Flipping and spinning, the girl was a whirlwind of pain. Any unfortunate grunt to get in her way was tossed aside or cut down. As she spun, blade pointing out the top of her umbrella, the canopy was open all the while, making the girl seem practically invincible.

The skill being showcased from her was enough to grab the attention of Adam Taurus.

"Stand aside and deal with the other two for now! I'll handle this one personally," he ordered, the still conscious members moving away. Adam began focusing with his blade and crouching low. His very person began glowing red.

"Neo! Move!" Blake cried, batting aside a grunt.

In the blink of an eye, he was upon her. She watched him swing his sword in wide, circular slash around him. Her very person shattered, the real Neo immediately jumping into an attack against the bull. Neo made to stab at any open space.

A stab to the shoulder. _Blocked. _A slash across the face. _Blocked. _Using her semblance she disappeared, Adam turning around expecting a surprise attack from behind.

Instead Neo had stayed in place, and ran in. The girl was a flurry of stabs, thrusts, slashes, punches, and kicks. For a solid forty five seconds she continued her onslaught. Each blow was met with the same result. _Deflected._

Neo snarled, becoming more and more frustrated. This guy was annoying. She couldn't land a hit on him and he was always ready to counter. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. She had to remain in control. Losing herself could cost her the life she valued so much. Adam chuckled. It sounded like a douchebags laugh.

"Come now. A battlefield isn't the place for a little girl," he claimed.

_Oh it's fucking on now you limp dick son of a cow!_

Meanwhile Blake and Sun were taking out the grunts as fast as possible. The issue was that just as they were done dispatching the group that had been at the docks, two more bullheads showed up and drop-shipped nearly twenty more men. Sun and Blake were back to back, the two tensing for the next wave of gun fire.

"Now!" Blake shouted. Sun then flipped over the girl as she rolled under him, now in opposite spots the two dashed away from each other and into the rows of grunts. The men were taken by surprise, expecting the two to charge directly. Blake hacked and slashed her way through the men, doing her best to keep them alive.

Sun in the meantime, proved to be quite the acrobat. The monkey faunus was flipping and spinning almost as well as Neo, and his use of his bo staff was allowing him to extend further and strike multiple men at once. Using his staff he vaulted into the air before coming back down and slamming the ground as hard as he could. The concrete around him cracked from the force and the grunts flew up from the shockwave. Spinning, he caught each grunt on his staff, holding them at the end with momentum alone. When he had all of the grunts around him on his staff, he did a small half flip and slammed them into the ground.

Blake had just finished up on her end, moving to dispatch the few remaining men. Hopefully help was on the way.

* * *

"Alright you two, we need to move, now!" Roman shouted after getting Neo's message. He knew her location and Neo only sent her location if she felt like she may need backup.

"I might be able to get there fast, but there's no way you and Penny can keep up!" Ruby pointed out. She was right, and so he thought up a new plan.

"You know how to drive kid?"he asked. Ruby scratched her head.

"Uh, my dad tried teaching me. I know how to start the car," she answered. He groaned. Looked like he'd be at the wheel. He stepped into the street, the first car stopping so as not to hit him. He ran up next to the window and flashed his Beacon ID.

"I need this car bucko! Get out and we'll get you a new one!" Roman demanded, not waiting for an answer as he threw the man out. The man stammered but didn't protest so Roman hopped in. The car was a pickup truck and there was only one other seat right in the front.

"Red! You're in front, new girl, hop in the bed!" Roman shouted, both girls doing as requested. Once they were in he slammed the gas pedal and they sped off. The thief was clearly a well versed getaway driver, as he weaved between traffic and sometimes even the sidewalk. As he did, he threw his scroll to Ruby.

"Open my contacts and hit call on the one with the red circle!" he requested as he focused on driving. Even with Roman's driving expertise and his shortcuts it'd still be another ten or so minutes for them to make it to the docks. Not to mention that the docks had several high security gates on the ground (he knew from past heists). He'd cross that bridge when they got there.

In the meantime, Ruby had called the number, putting it on speaker phone. Penny had leaned her head in through the rear window and was also listening in.

"Hello?" several voices called out. This was a multi-person call that Roman had with Ozpin, Glynda, Oobleck, and Port. Each one had answered, with Glynda and Bart still out searching.

"No time to explain! Don't have full details! Smoke at the docks, students are there! Send help!" he rattled off, the teachers all giving some sign of affirmation before hanging up. Ruby was focusing hard ahead of her.

"Hey Red, new girl, you two ready for some drive by action?" he asked. The two nodded. That's good, because he remembered the best way into the docks. You couldn't get in easily from the ground.

It was better to go from above.

* * *

Neo was not holding up great.

Adam had been slowly getting the better of her throughout their fight. First it had been small scores with the tip of his sword, then it was getting smacked by the sheath. Right now, Neo was locked blade to blade with the man. He was pushing down, and it almost felt like he was stronger than at the beginning of the fight. How could that be? She had only hit his sword! It must've been a semblance or something.

The lock was broken when a shot pinged off the man's head. He looked to see Blake, gun raised and pointed at him. The blonde was also ready to fight. He tsked and backed away from Neo, ready to fight all three when the roar of several bullhead engines could be heard over head. Three bullheads, equipped with turrets and loaded with more men arrived and Adam grinned ferally. He turned away from Blake and Sun and once again launched at Neo. The girl was only barely able to deflect his attacks now, a combination of her weakened state and his growing strength.

"Neo!" Blake called out in fear. She didn't like the girl, but she had risked herself to fight beside her and she certainly didn't want the girl to die for her.

Adam seemed more enraged at Blake's concern and redoubled his efforts to bring Neo down. _Dammit Blake! You couldn't keep hating me until backup arrived!?_

Neo was now continually using her semblance to throw the man off and dodge his attacks. Around them, gunfire rained from the bullheads and another large wave of grunts dropped and began their assault on Blake and Sun, forcing the two into cover. Neo was left in the open with Adam as the man rained blow after blow upon her illusions and her umbrella. With one particularly strong hit, he knocked her weapon out of her hand, leaving her completely disarmed.

He swept her legs out from under her and she felt her aura finally sputter out upon impact with the floor. Adam loomed over her and she turned onto her stomach to try and drag herself away.

She hoped for a miracle to show up and get her out of this mess. She did not want to die here!

All of a sudden, the roar of another engine could be heard. More reinforcements!? What the hell!?

Only it wasn't the engine of a bullhead. It was the engine of a car.

A loud slamming noise could be heard, before a pickup truck _flew _overhead and landed roughly, but still wheel first, on the battlegrounds. Everyone, grunts, Adam, Neo, Sun, and Blake, all looked on in shock. From the back and passenger side of the truck, gun fire and _a freaking laser _shot out and into the Fang infantry. Using the distraction, Sun and Blake ran into the fray, attacking the terrorists without hesitation. From the van, Ruby and Penny jumped out and also tore into the White Fang forces. The ginger even brought down a few bullheads on her own! Neo allowed a grin to spread across her face. She thought perhaps they were in the clear. That she'd be fine.

That was not her choice to make, however.

Neo suddenly stopped her crawling, frozen to the spot. She opened her mouth to scream and cursed her silence. The noise was enough to draw everyone's attention however.

Adam stood over her, sword imbedded through her back and into the ground beneath her. With a sickening squelch, Adam tore his blade from her body, kicking her aside. She flew and crashed into a shipping crate with a loud thud. Ruby cried out, Blake and Sun looking on in shock and Penny trying to comfort Ruby. But the battlefield wasn't silent for long.

"NO! NEO! YOU STUPID FUCKING ANIMAL! I'LL MOUNT YOUR HORNS ABOVE THE FUCKING FIRE PLACE!" Roman screamed, the words tearing his throat and scarring the students and grunts alike. Adam huffed and got ready for Roman to come and attack him.

What he didn't expect was for the thief to run him over with the pickup truck. Adam laid on the ground, as he staggered back up, the car sped back over him. And then it did it again. And again. And again. It happened four more times until Adam was having trouble staying awake. His aura hadn't given out yet, but the blunt force trauma alone was enough to disorient him and likey concuss him.

Finally Roman stepped out of the car and sprinted at Adam. He had just enough sense the block the cane as it swung and struck his sword instead. Even with his semblance activated, Adam staggered under the strength behind the blow. He jumped back and focused on the man in front of him.

A terrible and furious glare burned into Adam's eyes through his mask. Adam chuckled.

"Angry about the little girl? She was all smoke and mirrors, there was no way she was—" Adam was cut off as a flare exploded against his face. That had been a surprisingly... lucky shot. There was no way it would work again however. Adam learned from his mistakes and wouldn't be so easily—

Another three flares struck Adam, each one hitting him right in the face. Snarling, he took off toward the crook. He'd show this low life human what pain really was! As Adam was about to use the store energy from the hit earlier, the man reached into his pocket and pointed a... flashlight at him? Before Adam could finish is signature slash, the thief pulled a cord on the back of the device and Adam's world went white.

The students and grunts looked on in fear and shock alike as a large explosion ripped from the small device in Roman's hands. When everyone was capable of seeing again, they looked to see Adam laying flat on his back, trying, and failing, to get up, his red aura crackling away. Roman's arm crackled with orange aura, a sign that the recoil would have destroyed the man's arm if he wasn't lucky.

By this point, beacon faculty had showed up and was trying to round up any living Fang members. The teachers stood watching the display however, never seeing the amount of brutality from the normally composed and charming thief.

Roman walked over to the downed Adam calmly. The bull looked up at his foe, and before he could attempt to try and get into his opponents head, Roman stomped down on his chest a large amount of cracks sounding through the docks and causing many to flinch. He ground his foot in place for a moment before the real brutality began.

Kneeling over the faunus, the man dropped down and delivered blow after blow to the faunus's head. Punches, elbows, even a headbutt or two, all connected against the bull's head. Finally standing up, Roman held his cane like a golf club and glared down at Adam.

"I make do on my threats," he claimed, and everyone watched as he swung in a fast arc.

_CRACK!_

"AHHHHHHHH!" Adam screamed as everyone watched two dark objects fly from where the blow had landed. Upon further inspection, the two objects, long, curved, and sharp, were Adam's horns. The thief dashed away from the man as a bullhead landed. Grunts ran out as gunfire and other blasts were directed at them, and carried Adam into the vehicle. It took off and got away, Adam Taurus keeping his life, but losing his personhood.

Roman ran over to Neo, picking up his new trophy as he passed by. he knelt over Neo and held the girl in his arms, picking her up slowly and gently, before turning and running to an ambulance that had just pulled in.

"Roman! What happened to her!?" Glynda asked as the other professors began explaining things to officers and apprehending the grunts. He looked her in the eyes and said nothing. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out what he was trying to say before settling on something.

"Hospital first. Explanation later," he mumbled, glynda shocked at his unusual quietness, but nodding in agreement. The girl was pale, but by an incredible stroke of luck she still had a faint heartbeat. Roman got into the ambulance with her, ignoring the concerned Ruby and her team. Glynda looked to Ozpin, who nodded to her. She got in the ambulance as well.

The ride to the hospital was silent, save for the machinery in the back. Each time she looked at Roman, he was staring at Neo, focusing intently as though she'd disappear if he blinked. She reached out and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. His breathing hitched for but a moment before it returned to normal. She looked at the girl too.

* * *

_The trees leaves were made of mint ice cream, their trunks being waffle cones. Neo skipped along her dream world, happily looking to all the delicious frozen goodness. Streams of hot fudge and clouds of vanilla. Even the people were ice cream! It was a dream come true!_

_Then everything rumbled. She looked around. Things began to melt. Her perfect world was melting!_

_She frantically tried to escape the melting, but soon enough it caught up to her. Her legs slowly began to become liquid, the rest of her body soon following until she became one with the puddle of melted dreams around her._

Neo shot awake with a silent gasp and looked around.

To her right, Roman was staring at her, a look of relief beginning to wash over his normally smug face. He was standing by her side and he looked haggard.

"You certainly took your time," he commented, a small quiver in his voice. She signed to him, asking what happened, before wincing as pain laced through her midsection and looking down. She was in a hospital gown and when she checked under it found that she had bandages wrapped around the middle of her torso where her stomach was. Then she remembered and frown at the thought.

She had lost. Pretty badly too. She looked to Roman and instead signed, _how long?_

He chuckled, the sound making her feel at ease.

"About five days," he said. Only five days!? She got stabbed without any aura! How the hell would she have survived that long!?

"Roman, I came with the students to see if—" Glynda was cut off as Ruby and Nora exploded into the room, the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR soon following. Glynda sighed and closed the door. When they all looked and noticed the surprised Neo, there were cries of relief.

"You're okay!" Ruby shouted, almost jumping on the girl if not for Yang holding her back. Neo turned away, not used to so many people being happy for her recovery.

"Yeah yeah. Whoopdee-doo. I told you all that Neo would be fine," Roman joked, earning a glare from some of them.

"You should be more concerned! She's _your _daughter! What kind of dad makes light of his own child's grievous injury!?" Weiss and Blake yelled. Seem the two were on speaking terms again. Good for them.

"Neo, you are so lucky you didn't die!" Nora claimed, pointing right into her face.

Wait a second. She didn't die the day of the wound. She was awake again in five days. _Lucky she didn't die_. Neo's head whipped over to Roman, a furious look etched onto her features. THey were all stunned by her sudden change of mood

"Heh heh, what can I say kiddo? Guilty... as... charged—" halfway through, Roman slowed down. By the end, his eyes rolled back and he fell unceremoniously onto the floor. As everyone stared in shock, a vase with flowers that were meant for Neo fell over, smashing against the crooks head. Then a ceiling tile fell and did the same.

"What on Remnant was that!?" Glynda exclaimed, looking to Neo for an answer.

Neo sighed and turned to Jaune, Ren, and Nora. She signed something and they processed it before explaining to the room.

"Apparently... Roman kept his semblance going for the last five days. Like straight," Jaune said, "apparently it makes him really lucky, but when he's done it makes him really unlucky for however long he used it for."

Glynda looked down at the man in shock, as did the students. Prolonged semblance use was difficult to master. To use it for _five days straight _with a draw back like that!? The deputy levitated Roman into a chair, but the chair broke once he was placed in it. Neo sighed.

Still. The lengths the man had gone to so that she had stayed alive. And while it wasn't his direct goal, he had also protected the students and Vale.

_Maybe you do have what it takes, _Glynda thought as the students told Neo about everything she missed. She observed Roman's unconscious body. It made sense why he was focusing so intently on the girl. He was making sure that she got all the luck.

Glynda wondered for a moment what it would be like to have someone give her that kind of intense dedication. She shook it off. She was a grown ass woman, not a lovestruck school girl. Still, the man was fairly easy on the eyes. And he did do pretty well by her, all things considered.

Thoughts for another time. She would make sure he wasn't harmed in his 'unlucky period' as his daughter had told them she called it. It would be like dealing with Qrow after a bad day.

* * *

Five days had passed since Neo woke up. Roman had awoken a day after he had passed out and had been suffering the worst of it until his semblance wore off. When it finally did, he got to work on a 'special project' and wouldn't tell anyone, Neo or Glynda included, what it was.

That is, until combat class a week later. Roman walked in slightly late, not commenting on his sudden appearance. He held something in his hands, covered with a cloth. When he got to the referee's area that he and Goodwitch stayed at he took the cloth off and put a nail in the wall. He then hung the object up, shocking most students but bringing an overjoyed smile to Neo's face.

Hung up on display for all of Beacon Academy and visitors to see, was a plaque that had two horns attached to it, an engraving underneath it that read as follows.

_Reason No. 1 Not To Bite Off More Than You Can Chew._

Torchwick sighed and smiled, before turning back to the class as though he'd been there the whole time.

* * *

"When we meet again, I'm going to cut him into so many pieces, they won't even know it's him!" Adam raged. A bandage was wrapped around his head, two tiny bumps at the front of his skull. Cinder sighed.

"I suppose that bastard didn't get as far as we thought," she mused. She looked up into the night sky. Adam had raged about a man in a bowler hat with orange hair who had absolutely destroyed the once horned man in what could only be called a beatdown.

"I'll show you why you should never try and escape destiny," she mumbled, a fire in her eyes.

Cinder Fall didn't tolerate deserters.

* * *

**Season one, done! I'll probably slow down on the updates from here on out, so I apologize but the real world calls!**

**NO, I'M NOT DONE WITH THIS FIC. Just because I name dropped it doesn't mean it's over. We have a lot of RWBY to cover.**

**I didn't kill anyone because there aren't that many villains in RWBY and considering I turned two of them into 'heroes' I have even less to work with.**

**For now, until next time I upload, have a lovely time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here we go, season 2. I am somewhat apprehensive about this season for a few reasons. The biggest of which is that Roman was the main focus of this season but obviously that wouldn't be the same in this case. I intend to do my best to make this work well however.**

**In the meantime, remember to let me know what you think! Follows, favorites, and reviews are much appreciated! Enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

"Good god I'm so fucking exhausted," a silver haired boy groaned. His partner, one Emerald Sustrai, was getting more and more pissed off by the second. For once, it was only in small part due to her partners whining. No, Emerald was upset for a completely different set of reasons.

"Shut up Mercury. We have one more place to hit. Some bookstore or whatever," she sighed, her normal snark gone for the day. Maybe week. Maybe even month. Emerald and Mercury had done a lot of running around this month, and Cinder was not one to tolerate failure.

Since Roman and his little pet had decided to jump ship and join the circus that was Beacon Academy, Cinder needed someone else to go around and do all her dirty work. Not to say that the woman didn't do her own fair share of dirty work, but she never tasked herself with such menial labor like this.

So it was that Emerald and Mercury were running around Vale, tying up loose ends from the White Fang and stealing dust for the animals. It had been a long month or so, and the two had been working practically day in and day out.

"Let's just find and kill this guy already! I wanna go home and rest my legs," he complained, Emerald rolling her eyes and glaring at the young man. Rest his legs. What a douchebag. Emerald couldn't disagree though. The two were spent, and there was a lot they needed to do this month before the festival.

A few hours later, the two found themselves wandering into an old warehouse. From the outside one would assume that it was no longer in use, but their little operation decided to make great use of the free space. Inside the building, crates of dust were stacked high, a testament to Adam's leadership skills, or at the very least his ability to carry out raid after raid in rapid succession while still keeping the morale of his fanatics high. They really were animals.

"What's up stubby?" Mercury greeted. The faunus in question looked ready to cut the silver haired man's legs off and beat him to death with them. Yes, the bandage was gone, leaving Adam with two cracked stumps where his horns once were. The man had taken to collecting Roman's wanted posters and finding different ways to destroy them.

"So help me, I will kill you and hide the body so well that your boss won't even know that you died," the faunus growled, Mercury throwing up his hands and making an 'I'm _so _scared' face. Adam moved his hand to the hilt of his sword but before he could draw it, a voice called out.

"Now now Mercury, you must be more polite. Our friend here has helped us so much and even lost a part of himself while doing so. Do try and be more respectful," Cinder claimed, sauntering from a catwalk above them. The two teens stood back and let her stand between them as she addressed the faunus. Said man had a deep scowl on his face.

"There is little else I can do in Vale, woman. I have done as much as I can here and my presence is now known to Beacon hunters," the man spit, already knowing the woman was going to call him out on his lack of movement lately. Her normally smug composure broke into a subtle frown for a moment, proving him right. It was gone just as quickly.

"I suppose I understand," she began, looking the man in the eyes, "very well. We're moving forward then. Rally up more of your... followers, and be prepared for that little gift we discussed earlier."

Adam grunted and turned back to the planning table he had set up. The three turned and left. Cinder kept her gaze straight, her thoughts still going over her new plans.

_Rest assured Ozpin, I will have what is rightfully mine. And when I finally have it, I'll burn that thief and his little toy to ashes._

* * *

Neo was sat between Weiss and Blake. Yang was sat at the end of the dining table and was currently catching food being thrown her way by Nora at a table opposite of theirs. Blake was drawing and writing her little notebook and Neo was in the perfect position to see what the girl was thinking about. There was a large drawing of the asshole who had stabbed her. Oh how she would decimate the man the next time they met. For now though Neo watched Blake stare at the drawing. A thought crossed her mind as she noticed something wrong with the image. She pulled out a pencil and leaned over the emo girl.

Blake made a noise of protest before Neo leaned back, done messing with her personal belongings. When Blake looked back, it was to see that the girl had erased the horns on her drawing of Adam. She rolled her eyes and looked at Neo, the girl giving her a smirk in return. Blake simply sighed but a small smile graced her face. Neo had slowly warmed up to the rest of team RWBY, and while both their team and team JNPR were accepting of the girl, they had started to crack down on her for her more... uncivil tendencies.

All of a sudden, a large binder slammed onto the table, startling Blake out of her thoughts. Ruby stood proud and ready, clearing her throat before speaking.

"Sisters! Friends! Weiss."

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream. A dream that one day, the four of us, and maybe Neo, would come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss questioned.

"I am not a crook," Ruby stated putting up two peace signs, "Neo stole it for me."

Said girl paused mid bite and looked at the young Rose, affronted. Rule of thieves number two: never snitch!

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked, wanting her to get to the point already.

"I'm talking about kicking our semester off with a bang!" Ruby said with determination.

"I always kick my semesters off with a _Yang! _Eh? Eh?" the blonde looked around everyone else looking exasperated with the girl. Nora shouted a 'boo!' before an apple bounced off the brawlers nose. Neo smirked at that. Yang growled.

As Ruby and the others continued discussing plans for their last free day before the new semester, Neo had her mind on quite the opposite. She had a giddy smirk on her face for the last three days since she got the news.

"You're still smiling about that?" Blake questioned her. Neo looked her way, smile not falling, and shook her head in a 'no idea what you mean' manner. The others rolled their eyes. Yang tossed an apple back at Nora.

"It's understandable I suppose. Torchwick did prove to be a vicious and efficient fighter. It only makes sense that they would go through with such a plan," Weiss remarked. Ruby nodded, almost as excited as Neo.

"I know right!? It's one thing to learn under Beacon professors, and they're cool and all, but now Mr. Torchwick has his own class! Do you think he'll teach us how to make one of those exploding dust thingies that used at the docks!?" the reaper asked. Neo simply shrugged.

Yes, upon his five day recovery Ozpin had asked Roman to meet with him. The next day it was announced that a new class had been added to the second semester and that it would be run by Roman Torchwick right after combat classes. Nobody knew what the man would be teaching but it was clear that the class was given to him due to his prowess at the docks. Neo had been beside herself with joy. She finally was going to be learning from Roman again! Sure she was a damn good fighter, but Roman had a flare when it came to telling you what you needed to do so that you wouldn't die.

Weiss stood up and began to say something about spending their last free day as a tea. She was about to propose an idea, when a pie flew across the table and splattered against her face. Neo, Blake, Yang, and Ruby looked over to JNPR's table with wide eyes. Nora was pointing at Ren, the boy had his head in his hands, a defeated and disappointed sigh escaping his body.

That's when the chaos began.

* * *

"... and that's about all we know of the incident thus far," Glynda reported dutifully. Roman stood beside her, providing additional information that he had from himself and Neo. Ozpin looked to him when the deputy finished.

"Roman, you said that you were aware there was someone out there obtaining all this dust? Do you know who?" Ozpin asked hands in a tent in front of him. Roman shrugged a shoulder.

"Some woman named Cinder. Black hair, fiery eyes, looked and talked about as evil as she acted. You'd have to be an idiot to not realize something was up with her," Roman stated, leaning back against the wall of Ozpin's office. The headmaster and the deputy looked to one another, a silent debate warring between the two's eyes. Finally Glynda turned to him.

"Roman, did this Cinder showcase any... unique powers?" the witch asked, her normally stern face now softer and curious. Ozpin was looking at him as though he held the secret to the universe. Roman thought.

"Now that I think back on my one meeeting with the crazy broad, I do remember something that seemed a little... I dunno, different is putting it lightly. It was more like..." he trailed off trying to think of the right word.

"Mystical?" Ozpin tried.

"Yeah! A little bit, yeah. She was starting fires without any dust. I guess she had a pretty unique semblance or something to be able to use the stuff that well. Whenever she got close to me it felt like she was always burning or something," he supplied, the two other professors now looking at each other in concern. Glynda nodded to Ozpin and the man sighed.

"Roman, there's something we should let you know about now that we are aware you've had direct contact with this Cinder character," Ozpin stated.

Why did he feel like he was about to get sucked into something way above his pay grade?

* * *

"... and she had this friend who didn't talk but she tried going toe to toe with that Adam jerk! I mean, she didn't win, but that famous thief showed up and absolutely pummeled the guy into submission! It was wild! But she's really cool and I really don't want to mess this up, so be cool, okay?" Sun finished, talking to his partner and best friend.

"Dude," the blue haired boy responded. Sun looked over to see his friend posing and the light glimmer off his teeth. How the hell did he do that?

"Right, sorry. I'm just a little nervous about seeing her again is all," Sun said. His friend waved him off and he nodded. The two swung the doors of the cafeteria open and stepped in. There was nothing to worry about! Blake and her friends were cool, reasonable, and above all else, calm and collected—

A swarm of students all dashed out of the room as the doors opened, leaving only the two friends and nine others in the mess hall. A loud and haughty laugh sounded across the room.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora chanted from a mountain of tables. Team JNPR stood among the tables, ready to fight. Across from them, team RWBY just declared battle on them, promising swift, delicious, justice.

Sun and his friend looked around. He spotted Neo standing in the middle of all the carnage, looking back and forth between the two teams.

"Neo! Join us!" Ruby called.

"No Neo! The queen requests your aid!" Nora called, hopping down from her position. Neo looked torn on who to go with.

"If you join us, I'll buy you a cup of ice cream!" Ruby declared, Neo looked towards the reaper.

"If you join US I'll buy you a whole pint of ice cream!" Nora rebutted. Neo looked towards the ginger.

"If you join me and my buddy here, I'll buy you two pints of ice cream! Any flavor you want!" Sun proclaimed, everyone snapping to look at him. His friend looked to him too.

"Wait, since when were we a part of this!?" he asked.

"Since right now! I'm not missing out on the fun!" Sun claimed. He looked to Neo, the two met eyes. Then they both nodded, Neo shattering before reappearing next to Sun.

"Neo! Your traitorous ways will not be forgiven!" Nora called.

"We were once sisters, but now we are enemies! RWBY! ATTACK!" Ruby cried, her team charging into the fray. JNPR did the same, throwing a volley of watermelons towards her team and the recently founded team SNN.

"At least we don't have to change our team name!" Sun yelled, ducking behind a table with Neo and his friend. His friend sighed and turned to Neo.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Neptune, formerly the only N in team SSSN. Welcome to the club," he said. She nodded at him. They'd need a plan of attack. Sun picked up two separate sausage links, wielding them as nunchucks. Neptune picked up a long baguette and held it like a spear. Neo kicked a pole off of the wall and stabbed it through a large pizza. She held it like her parasol and the three leapt over the table to join the battle.

Sun and Neptune dashed off to break RWBY's backline while Neo did the same to JNPR. She ducked under tables and jumped, attempting to swat Pyrrha across the face. The amazonian blocked the attack. The two stared each other down. Neo had been looking for a rematch since she had been beaten by the girl. They launched into a flurry of attacks, a blur of blows and crumbs. Pyrrha was swinging a baguette like her xiphos and Neo's floppy pizza umbrella wasn't holding up as well against the champion's strikes.

Neo finally spun and threw her umbrella like a frisbee. The attack was unexpected and the pizza smacked into Pyrrha's face, sliding down and leaving cheese and tomato sauce stuck to the girls face and hair. The champion lifted her hand and felt the food in her hair. She sighed.

"Neo, we're friends. So please, don't take this personally," Pyrrha said before launching an all out assault on the criminal. Neo did her best to block and dodge, but Pyrrha's aim was impeccable. Neo felt herself getting pushed back, before she slipped on a puddle of ketchup. She rolled to the side just in time as the champion swung the bread down with enough force that it snapped in half. Before Neo could prepare for another attack, the redhead was flung back towards where her team started by a drop kick from Sun. he looked to her and the two both sent each other a thumbs up. That was Vacuo pride. The two turned and jumped back into the fight. There was no way they were coming out anywhere but the top!

* * *

"You can't be fucking serious," Roman said, staring into a glass containment tube. Inside said tube was a girl, younger than him but definitely older than Neo. She had an ugly scar that marred most of her face. Oh yeah, apparently she also housed half of an ancient, and incredibly powerful, magic energy that Cinder had stolen, and was now searching for. That was cause for concern too.

"I know this is a lot to take in Roman, but please, we need to know that this won't leave this room," Glynda asked, stepping up behind the man. He turned around and looked between her and Ozpin.

"Are you kidding me!? Even if I said something nobody would believe me because _this is fucking crazy,_" he stated, before coninuing, "besides! Cinder would somehow find out that I know and then torture the information out of me! No way in hell am I gonna act like I know what's going on here! I'll sleep better at night not thinking about it!"

"Thank you for your cooperation then," Ozpin declared, "we would like to ask for your help in bringing Cinder down."

"Oh no! No no no! You may have gotten me the first time, but I'm not falling for this kinda stunt again Ozpin! I will not put myself in the way of that woman! She's like Glynda, but she doesn't have any inhibitions towards burning people alive!" the thief shouted, before adding, "but you're fine Glyn, you're nothing like her."

"You just compared the two of us!" the deputy argued, Roman shrugging and looking away. Ozpin sighed.

"Roman, I understand this is a lot to take in, but please, we need the assistance of somebody who knows how the underground works," Ozpin pleaded, "we understand if you wish to retire from our company afterwards, but your skillset is directly needed for us to help save this kingdom."

Roman groaned and scratched at his hair, before pulling out a cigar and lighting it, taking a long drag before breathing the smoke out in a heavy sigh.

"No smoking on school premises," Ozpin stated calmly. Roman looked at the man and took another intentionally long drag, before blowing up and around him.

"Okay. I'll help. But if for a second things get hairy I'm pulling out and I'm taking Neo with me. There's no way I'm risking both our lives by being here," he demanded. Ozpin sighed and looked like he wanted to leave off on better terms but a cough from Glynda told him otherwise. He agreed and Roman nodded.

A small ring sounded a second later, breaking the tense atmosphere. Glynda blushed a little as she checked her scroll, thanking that it didn't go off while they were explaining the situation to Roman. The ass would have never let her live that down.

What she read was a message from Port that simply said 'check mess hall' and nothing else. She growled. That was never a good sign. She began to stomp off, a chilling aura emanating from her person. Ozpin and Roman followed shortly behind, hopefully capable of stopping the woman from becoming a murderer.

* * *

"Glyn, Glyn, calm down, just grab my hand and squeeze."

_Crack!_

"Ow ow ow ow! Nevermind! Nevermind! This was a poor choice on my part!" Roman screamed as Glynda crushed his hand in her grip. He only wanted to help!

Upon the three adults arrival to the mess hall, it looked as though a terrible food calamity had occurred. The mess was giant and there was even a large and structurally dangerous looking crack on the back wall. Glynda looked like she'd pop a blood vessel any minute. She quickly whipped out her crop and fixed the whole room in less than a minute, objects flying back into place before she practically slammed the last table into place.

Neo and not one, but _two boys _were standing triumphantly, an exhausted Red laying at Neo's feet. She looked like she had been the one to crash into the wall.

Ozpin came in to try and placate her but it looked like she would bite his head off and so the headmaster gave Roman a small salute as he stepped away. Bastard.

"Deep breaths Glynda, deep breaths," he soothed. Her breathing made her chest heave, and he tried desperately not to look at the massive, and quite frankly impractical, boob window in her blouse. Seriously, for somebody as stern as Glynda Goodwitch, he'd have never thought she'd be okay with that much skin being on display. Oh shit he was looking. And she had noticed he was looking. Their eyes met and then she realized she was still holding his hand for stress relief.

She quickly extracted herself from him before clearing her throat and addressing the kids. Damn, he really thought she was going to turn that anger onto him! For once he was lucky without his semblance. He watched Ozpin try and tell Glynda to just let the kids be kids, when Goldie Locks crashed through the ceiling and through a bench.

Uh oh, Glynda was growling again. She must have been doing paperwork all night again, only to immediately deal with Ozpin's bad decisions followed by this, because the look in her eyes was enough to make the area around her by about two meters get drastically colder.

"Roman, please take Glynda to the infirmary, I believe she may have just gone into a stress induced shock," Ozpin asked. Roman nodded and moved to the deputy, inching his way along so as not to possibly wake her and be on the receiving end of her wrath. When he tapped her shoulder, she turned to him slowly. The look in her eyes screamed death and Roman took a step back.

"Uh... good morning?" he half greeted half asked. She took a step towards him. He took one back. She took another step forward, he took another back. It was silent for ten seconds before Roman turned and bolted, a now uncontrollably angry Glynda flying after him. No joke, she used her semblance to lift herself and threw herself in his direction.

There was a large crash, followed by pained screams.

"WHAT DID I DO!?" Roman cried out, "I'M NOT THE ONE WHO DESERVES YOUR RAGE RIGHT NOW!"

"SOMEBODY DESERVES IT AND NONE OF THE STUDENTS ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE IT!" she shouted back.

"Kinky," Yang claimed. Then there was the sound of an explosion followed by several lights being torn out of the cement and hurled at a particularly hard to hit target, "oh. Nevermind. Not that kinky."

Ozpin sighed.

Perhaps he should have just handled the situation himself. He took a sip of coffee.

Nope. That didn't sound fun.

* * *

"I would like to apologize for throwing you through the window," Glynda stated, sitting next to Torchwick on his couch. He was currently holding an ice pack to his head.

"Which window?" he groaned out. She coughed, trying to hide a small blush that came to her face. She looked away and he groaned again, leaning back.

"Roman?" Glynda suddenly asked. He sighed, already being over his (unrightful) beating from earlier.

"What's up Glyn?" he asked. She made a noise at that. He had been using that nickname since he had passed out saving Neo. She didn't mind it, far from it really, it was nice that she finally had someone who felt comfortable enough around her to call her by a nickname.

"I was wondering something," she began, he waved his hand to continue, "would you like to get dinner this weekend?"

"Bwuah?" Roman sputtered out, not expecting the sudden invitation. She turned to him.

"This week marks the beginning phases of the Vytal Festival. As such, we, as teachers, will be required to be a part of many meetings, conferences, and decisions for the festival. Free time will be a blessing this semester and so I was wondering if you would like to spend one of the few stress free moments we'll have with me," she clarified. He still looked surprised. She rolled her eyes.

"Roman, while we may work at a school, that does not mean we must handle things as the students do. We are both adults here so I would expect that you wouldn't act so surprised at my blatant request," she stated, looking a little embarrassed that he was reacting so strangely. She was no fool, and she'd tried being in a relationship before. That didn't quite work out and she knew that she wasn't as... well versed in the field as other women her age may have been. That didn't mean she didn't know tells of a blooming relationship.

"I'm sorry it's not because of how you asked, it's because you asked in general," Roman finally got out. Glynda frowned at that and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Do you really think I'm that much of a prude?" she asked. Roman looked her in the eyes.

"Glyn, you are the only person I know who files everything by color codes, alphabetical order, and serial numbers. You are absolutely a prude," he stated. She winced at that. Don't blame her, blame having to work under Ozpin for so many years! It did things to a person, just look at Port and Oobleck.

Did she really just compare herself to those two?

"Sure," Roman answered, Glynda looking to him, "sounds nice, as long as you the well renowned 'Glynda the Good Witch' don't mind being spotted with the most handsome thief in Vale."

"Well, I surely don't, but I have to settle with you instead," she claimed, face neutral the whole time. Roman froze and looked into her eyes. She finally smirked.

"I... Wow, okay maybe you're capable of pulling that stick out your ass after all," he quipped. She rolled her eyes and stood to leave.

"Saturday at seven. Dress formal," she stated and left. Hah! He was the king of formal! He closed the door behind her and turned around. He took one step forwards and then froze.

_Did I, Roman Torchwick, really just agree to go on a date with Glynda Goodwitch!?_

* * *

_Did I, Glynda Goodwitch, really just ask Roman Torchwick on a date!?_

Glynda took a deep breath. She didn't realize what she had asked him until she had already said it. What was she thinking!? Why would she potentially jeopardize a workplace relationship by asking him that!?

She tried to relax a little. It was fine. A dinner between two coworkers was nothing special. Just the two of them. And she'd told him to dress formal. Meaning that in order to not look out of place they'd have to go to a fancier establishment. Together. Just the two of them.

_You really fucked the grimm on this one Glynda._

Why would she ask Roman out like that? Surely she wasn't so stressed and lacking in real, in-depth, relationships with others, was she?

Of course she was, Roman had pretty much told her why!

She tried not to let her thoughts get the best of her. She was an adult. It wasn't like she wanted anything incredibly serious with the thief. She just had to relax and not think about him, or his smooth hair. Or how his eyes sparkled. Or how he was comfortable enough with her to call her by something other than her name. Or how he had agreed to go on a date with her in the first place.

Ah shit, she was absolutely thinking about him. Now that's not to say she was blushing and squealing like a young girl. She was however, realizing that she had been unconsciously finding reasons to work more with the man. She winced as she realized that in turn, he had been finding more reasons to work with her.

She sighed and took another deep breath. She'd been doing that a lot recently. At least he was respectful enough to her. And he stood his ground to Ozpin which also was a favorable attribute. It meant he had a brain. And he wasn't wrong in calling himself handsome, not that she'd ever tell him as such.

To hell with it! She could at least find pride in the fact that she never fell for Ozpin. That would've been a nightmare. Plus, maybe this would get Qrow off her back about finding somebody to relieve her stress as he so crudely put it.

She continued walking. One last thought entered her mind about the crook.

_At least I know he's a good dad._

* * *

**Ta-daa! And another chapter done. This one is for reals the last chapter I'll be able to pump out this quickly. I start college tomorrow and I'm not trying to fail immediately! My apologies once again.**

**So I set up volume two! I also set up Torchwick and Goodwitch on a date! Whoops.**

**Remember to follow and review, it helps me know what you all want to see more of and what I can plan for. For now though, until the next upload, have a lovely time!**

**And please don't bite off more than you can chew!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Holy wow, college is a lot! I love it though! Sorry again that updates will be inconsistent but I promise not to let this fic die! Mark my words!**

**In other words. Yay! Ten chapters! Thank you all for reading thus far, it means a lot to me. This story has gotten more attention than I thought it would, so I thank you all kindly.**

**In other words, I'm happy that we're in season two and that I can make stuff up and have the characters interact more. The first season had to follow the story pretty closely because it wouldn't have made sense for everyone to get along all at once.**

**Enough of my talk though, I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

Neo currently was sitting at a table in the library with team JNPR. The four were doing various things, only Ren doing what a library is intended for; reading. Nora was sleeping next to the boy, having tried to get his attention for about fifteen minutes straight before eventually giving up and napping face down on the table.

Neo had tried for weeks now to get those two together. Alas, it seemed her Cupid magic ran dry with Jaune and Pyrrha, who hadn't declared anything but were absolutely together. Seriously, nightly training sessions on the roof? Yeah right, the two always came back out of breath, which technically could mean that they were training except for one fatal flaw.

As great a guy as Jaune was, there's no way he could get Pyrrha to fight until she was out of breath. Checkmate.

But Neo couldn't push the two childhood friends together. She tried to do so every chance she got, but it was like they were cock blocking themselves! Ren would always play it off as an accident and then apologize and Nora would always make it seem like it was just one of her usual absurdities.

She had gotten the girl to grab his junk and the two acted like Nora was looking for her keys! They didn't even need keys to the dorm, it was an electric lock!

She had to stop thinking about them. She looked over to Jaune, who was reading a comic book but holding it like it was a novel or fine literature. Pyrrha was working on something else, occasionally looking up when she was addressed but otherwise taken by her current work.

Team RWBY was playing that stupid board game, 'Remnant' which Neo couldn't stand. Ruby had tried to make her play a game with them but she had refused. Neo had played the game a few weeks prior with team JNPR and it had been an egregious affair. She and Pyrrha had gotten knocked out of the game in just a few turns, Nora kept making strange moves that got her nowhere and Jaune and Ren were in a war of attrition. In the end, Nora won due to the boys exhausting each others forces. Nora just swept in while they were defenseless and took over.

So no, Neo was not interested in playing that game again.

Speaking of, she looked over to the table team RWBY occupied. Yang and Ruby were at each other's throats, Weiss had no idea what she was doing, and Blake looked so uninterested that the girl could've been asleep with her eyes open. The only indication that she wasn't is that she was blinking.

During one particular bout between the two sisters, Sun and Neptune walked up.

"What's up guys!" Sun greeted, getting no response from the team. He sighed dejectedly.

"Aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune asked.

"Thank you!" Ren exclaimed, shocking Nora awake.

"Ignore him, for he is a nerd," Sun explained, gesturing to Neptune.

"Hey guys, Neo, I'm Neptune," he said with a smile. Weiss looked smitten, and Neo almost gagged at the look on her face. Some people had no self respect.

Neo tuned out the rest of the conversation. She was too busy thinking about something that Roman had asked her about earlier. It had been bothering her for a day now and she couldn't tell what the hell it was supposed to mean. She looked at the message that Roman had sent her a day prior.

_White suit or black suit?_

She had told him white of course, black made him look like he was part of a wannabe emo alternative rock back. But why would he be wearing a suit? There wasn't any heists that they had to pull of for obvious reasons. So what could it be? A date? No, who would have the patience for that? Someone with that kind of tolerance would have to work for somebody like Ozpin everyday for the last decade if they wanted to be able to pull that one off.

Neo looked up in time to see Blake stalk off, her team giving her weary looks. Ah, looks like it was this again. They all quickly learned that the girl had a strange obsession with the White Fang, searching into them and looking for evidence that could help her predict their next steps. The girl was crazy about the group, and while she wouldn't talk about it, they all knew that it was the reason. That came from the fact that the girl had a bad habit of leaving her browsing history uncleared, which lead to other discoveries that would scar Neo for a very long time. Seriously, no girl could fit something like that, no matter how hard they tried.

They all looked to one another, unsure of how to help the girl if she was just going to waste away in her own angst.

Meanwhile, an armada flew overhead. Who thought that that was reassuring?

* * *

"Ozpin, it's been too long!" a tall imposing man greeted. General James Ironwood was an intimidating figure to most, standing tall and proud in his military attire.. Ozpin nodded back.

"Glynda, it has certainly been too long," he greeted the woman with open arms. Glynda looked unamused.

"Oof, i think I Iron-would rather be hugged by anyone else. Like an ursa or an iron maiden," Roman commented, coming out of the elevator. Now may have been a poor time to do so however, for after one step into Ozpin's office, he was staring down the barrel of a very large handgun.

"Roman Torchwick, how did you get in here and what do you plan on doing?" the general questioned. Roman meanwhile had his hands up, not wanting to eat a bullet for breakfast.

"James drop your weapon please, we just had the walls cleaned," Ozpin asked, moving to pour a cup of tea, "what did you need Roman?"

"Uh, the kids are a little nervous about the military literally sitting over their heads so I just came to ask when they'd be leaving but I think based on the current position here, that won't be for a while," Roman said casually, "also for Brother's sake Ozpin, were you even planning on calling me about Irondick being here?"

"I was going to have Glynda do it," the headmaster responded.

"Ozpin you bastard man," the woman replied, surprised the two headmasters in the room.

"There you go Glyn, just like we practiced," Roman cheered.

"CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Ironwood shouted, silencing the three Beacon members.

After explaining the situation Ironwood was rubbing the bridge of his nose. The man looked up at Roman, then to Ozpin, then back to Roman. Then he looked into his tea, and then back up and at Roman. The thief rolled his eyes.

"Ozpin, this is unacceptable, even for you. I'm sorry but we still have to take him in. There's too much at risk having him here," the general stated.

"Oh. Then you're probably going to _really _not like this next part," Ozpin said with a fake sympathetic smile on his face.

After explaining that Roman knew about the maidens, Ironwood had his head in his hands and wasn't even looking up at them anymore.

"Ozpin you are a fucking mad man," he groaned.

"Well at least there's something we can agree on," Roman mumbled, Glynda elbowing him in the side. His backhanded remarks were not going to do anything but make this situation more awkward. Roman took the hint and looked away, pretending to admire the fleet outside the tower window.

"I cannot and will not ever understand why you make the decisions you make. You are much too eager to take any chance you can to get this situation under control," James claimed, finally looking up again.

"I'm literally looking at your army floating outside my window James. You cannot be such a hypocrite right now, Ozpin declared, gesturing to the Atlas fleet outside, "that is only making students weary as Mr. Torchwick said."

Ironwood grumbled and looked at Torchwick, the crook waving back making the general grumble more. He began walking to the elevator.

"Please let this have been the right decision Ozpin," he said simply, without turning around, before the doors shut behind him.

"Huh, that was pretty neat," Roman said, tilting his head at Ozpin, "thanks for the warning old man."

"How were we—"

"You," Glynda interjected.

"_How were we _to know that you would actually do your job and report about the students for once?" Ozpin asked.

"Because it's my job that _you _pay me for, possibly against your better judgement," the thief replied. Ozpin sighed. That was fair.

James had never been the most agreeable person, and Ozpin had never been the most subtle. The two clashed at almost every turn, the only reason they still worked together was likely in large part to the fact that both men wanted what was best for the world. Go figure, that was politics.

Well at least that's what Ozpin wanted to think, not that James had any malicious intentions, only that the man thought with his army first and his pen later. Such liberal use of the largest army in the world was something that Ozpin often argued with the man about, neither ever changing their perspectives in the matter.

"Well that was a treat, but seeing as I have nothing else to say or report, I'll be leaving before somebody else tries to point a gun in my face," Roman stated as he departed. Ozpin found himself both loathing and respecting how the crook lived his life. So free of responsibility and yet still responsible enough to deal with most issues in a timely manner. The crook was definitely resourceful, that was undeniable.

* * *

Neo sat on her bed. The moon was out tonight and team JNPR was working away into the late hours of the night. She had been thinking lately. Roman would've made some remark about 'not hurting herself' or something to that effect. He was an ass like that. It was Thursday night, one day of classes left before the weekend.

No, Neo had been thinking about what Ruby had texted her a while ago. It was short but it had stuck surprisingly hard to the girl.

_We're all gonna be out hunting the Fang on Saturday! Cover for us if somebody asks?_

The young Rose had also included a large amount of pleading emoticon faces afterwards. But Neo had been stuck on that information. Team RWBY was going out and hunting down the same people who thrashed them at the docks? Neo let her hand drift to her midsection. While Roman's semblance had saved her life, there was still a large scar left from where she'd been stabbed. She winced when she remembered the feeling.

Neo wasn't ignorant. She'd grown up on the streets of Vacuo before Roman found her and whisked her away. She had been stabbed and she had gotten her fair share of cuts and scrapes. But that was totally different. Not only did she get her ass handed to her on a silver platter by that edgy douchebag, but that had to have been one of the most humiliating defeats of her life! She had barely landed a single hit and just to add insult to injury, she had been stabbed while she tried to crawl away. Her! Crawling! She huffed and pouted at the memory.

Evidently the other occupants of the room noticed and were staring at her. She blinked before she looked away. Ren was the first one to speak.

"It's okay to be upset," he stated calmly. She huffed more at that. Her hand had been on her scar this whole time and she moved it away after being caught.

"He's right Neo, you have every right to be angry and even afraid after what happened. But at least you're still here and you're still well," Pyrrha added, looking at the girl with her real smile. Neo had gotten really used to the champions actual smile, it was almost impossible not to laugh whenever she saw the redhead's fake one anymore.

But still, she supposed they had a point. She wasn't dead, far from it, and she wasn't even crippled after the whole ordeal. Most people would be counting their blessings and smile at the gift they'd been given.

Neo wasn't most people. She pouted harder into her bedding. JNPR looked among each other for a moment, silently trying to figure out what to do. Nora was the first to move.

"Boop," the ginger said as she poked Neo on the nose. Startled, she flinched back. How did such a loud girl move so quietly!? Nora was looking into her eyes, a smile on her face.

"Don't worry Neo! Think of it this way; next time you see that hornless dirtbag, you'll have trained and gotten stronger! That way, you can be the one stabbing him instead!" she exclaimed, the other three sighing. That wasn't exactly how they wanted to handle the situation.

Neo smiled however. Nora was right! She'd get stronger, and next time she saw that bastard she'd add his head to Roman's plaque! She gave Nora a hug, the ginger returning it with gusto. The girl really knew how to cheer someone up.

Neo then had an idea. Rather than wait and try doing things on her own, why didn't she do things the way Roman had taught her?

_Remember Neo, if someone is stronger than you, get a whole gang of people and show them who's really boss with group stomping session!_

Neo's smile turned feral and she gestured for team JNPR to get closer. They all huddled around her bed and she showed them Ruby's message. She had a steely and determined look in her eyes. They looked amongst each other before looking back and nodding. Why wait to beat a guy up alone when you've got friends willing to beat him up with you?

Neo got up and walked over to team RWBY's dorm. She knocked in a pattern that told their team that it was a friend. They had all come up with it a few weeks ago. She heard a lot of fumbling and somebody fall before the door swung open, an embarrassed and frazzled looking Ruby behind it. She smiled and Neo smiled back, pulling her scroll out and typing her proposal up. She kept looking up to the others in the room and saw a not so well hidden Sun and Neptune hiding in the closet. Finally she held up her scroll. Ruby read it then looked to her, a questioning look in her eyes. Neo simply nodded and Ruby gave her a resolute nod back. The message remained on Neo's scroll as she went to get JNPR to join her in the dorm. It was a short question and one that said all it needed to.

_Room for a few more?_

* * *

Roman fixed his bowtie, raised his head and checked how it looked on his collar, before fixing his bowtie again. As per Neo's opinion he had obtained a white suit, it seemed to fit well on him considering his normal attire. He still had his signature hat, but he had replaced the feather with a small, red flower. He had a black undershirt and a red bowtie that he was currently trying to adjust. He had more formal black pants and dress shoes, and he had forgone his gloves, leaving his hands bare. He looked almost like a secret agent from one of those old movies, only he was totally more handsome than those guys.

He finally finished fiddling with his tie sighing in relief. This is why he just wore an ascot! So much less matinence! He grabbed his lighter and a few cigars, and picked up his cane. So what if it was also a weapon? It completed his look! He checked the time and left to get Glynda.

He wasn't nervous, not in the way most men would be. A beautiful, yet dangerous and fiery woman like Glynda would make most men quake. Roman had gotten fairly used to that though. He didn't really mind her barbed words and killer glares (at least not as much on the second one). No he was nervous about something else.

_I haven't been on a date in eleven years!_

Yes, Roman had been out of the game for a long time. He hadn't tried the dating scene since he found Neo, favoring her survival over some cheap sex or anthing of the like. He hadn't been on a date since he was about twenty or so. He was almost in his mid thirties now for Brother's sake! He knew all the cues, obviously, but it had been awhile since he had to sit down with someone for dinner and talk to them for three to four hours. He was out of his normal bubble!

He was so lost in thought, he didn't notice two things.

One, from out the window one could see eleven kids just ran by and towards the bullhead docks. Had he been paying attention, he'd notice that one of them was his own little bastard.

Two was that he had stopped right in front of Glynda's door. He blinked. Well shit, moment of truth. He knocked and waited. He made sure to look a little above where her head would be. After all, he didn't want to start the date off staring at her boobs. The door suddenly squeaked open. Roman's eyes widened a little, but he did his best to keep himself from looking like a fool.

Before him, Glynda stood in an elegant and deep purple dress that went down to her ankles. A slit ran up her left side and stopped around mid thigh. She wore pointed black heels and stockings that were only a little darker than her own skin. She had a long, black shawl that draped around her neck where her cape would have gone, and a black metallic bracelet on her right hand. She had also let her hair out of its normal bun, instead brushing it to the left and letting her natural curls and waves fall down her back and shoulders. Her glasses remained, but she had a small amount of green eye shadow that helped with her emerald eyes.

Roman whistled, the noise making her roll her eyes. She looked him up and down and nodded. He suddenly remembered that he was supposed to say something.

"Well don't you just look bewitching this evening?" he remarked causing her to smile a small bit. Damn she was much more calm than he was right now.

If only he really knew.

_I haven't been on a date since I was in combat school!_

Glynda was having a difficult time keeping her actual feelings inside. She had forgotten how much work went into preparing for these kinds of things. It was exhausting! Here she was, a woman in her thirties trying to find something to say as a response to his compliment. He seemed so much more calm than her! Finally she did her best to respond.

"You're not too bad yourself," she said evenly, drawing a small laugh from the crook. Laughs were good right? As long as they were at her remark and not her.

"Shall we be off? You still haven't told me where we're going ya know?" he inquired, sticking his arm out. She didn't blush, it just got really hot suddenly, that's all! She cleared her throat and looped her arm through his. They started walking towards the bullhead docks.

"It's a quaint place just off the main freeway in Vale. Small, but not cheap. The perfect place to get away from the life of a teacher," she claimed, getting another laugh out of the man. That was another one! She still had it.

Oh good lord did he not know what he was doing.

Roman had decided to laugh when he couldn't come up with something else. Sure they were still genuine, but he was really starting to draw a blank on things he could say that were appropriate for their current situation. Who could really blame him? The woman he was currently linking arms with was capable of sending him hurtling through the sky in the blink of an eye!

The two arrived at the bullhead docks and got on the first available one. To each other, they seemed oblivious to the other's plight. To others, the two looked so incredibly out of their element that it was actually making them uncomfortable. Many students looked on in awe, others in jealousy. The top two ranked hottest professors in the school were taken by each other! Not that any of the students really thought they had a chance in the first place but still, life was cruel.

The bullhead ride was long and quiet. The two normally had a topic of discussion, but it seemed that the idea of being on a date was impacting their ability to interact normally. The bullhead landed, and then it was another long and quiet walk to the restaurant. Hopefully something would strike up a conversation.

"It's the infamous thief of Vale, Roman Torchwick!"

"Are we getting robbed!?"

"Watch your families! He'll steal your kids and sell them on the black market!"

"Police! Somebody call the police!"

"Does he have _the _Glynda Goodwitch hostage!?"

"He probably intends to do devious, dastardly things to her if we don't comply!"

"Oh, the absolute humanity of it all!"

Okay, this wasn't quite what he was hoping for. Also, ouch, was he really that much of a menace to society? He didn't even do some of the things they were accusing him of! Seriously, you hold one kid for ransom and suddenly people start rumors about you being part of a trafficking ring! He looked over to Glynda. She was currently wide eyed and almost open mouth in shock at the immediate reaction.

"Sorry Glyn, you're gonna have to get used to that. I seem to have quite an effect on people, wouldn't you say?" he tried to joke, hoping she wasn't too mad. Before she could respond, the host timidly stood before him, a butter knife poised at Roman. He was balding, and dressed very finely. He had a small mustache and was shaking up a storm.

"M-Ms. Goodwitch! There must be something I can help you with!" the man tried to sound confident, but it was clear he was no hero.

"Um... we have a reservation for eight," she responded quietly. It was silent after that. In the back the two hunters heard a plate crash on the floor.

"Reservation for two," Roman leaned in and specified, as though that would make the situation any less awkward.

"We will not allow a criminal in our establishment!" the host yelled, many patrons voicing their agreement. Glynda looked ready to argue but Roman cut in before she could.

"Oh no no! I see how you misunderstand! This happens all the time!" he claimed, everyone suddenly looking very confused.

"I am not Roman Torchwick. I'm his identical twin brother, _Ronald _Torchwick. I've cut all ties with him," Roman stated confidently. Everyone mumbled to each other for a bit after that.

"B-but you look so much like him!" a woman yelled from the back.

"I did say identical right? He took my look so that I'd get framed instead of him! What a clever, intelligent, and handso— I mean, uh, bastard," he answered. It was quiet again for a long time.

"Are you sure you're not the man who robbed me and my wife a year and a half ago?" an older man asked. Glyda gave Roman a flat, unamused glare. He laughed and looked away.

"Almost positive," he answered, still not looking at Glynda. Her palm met her face shortly after.

"I trust him."

"Must be true!"

"Wow, crisis averted."

"He's _much _more handsome than his brother!"

Glynda's palm met her face a few more times.

"Right this way then," the host said, leading them away as though nothing happened. It was going to be a long ass night. Hopefully Neo was doing better than he was. Maybe she was studying or staying a respectable distance away from boys! Yeah, she had to be fine.

* * *

Neo and Ren were currently very close together. They were currently all huddled up with all their other teammates, making it fairly obvious to anyone watching that the group of teens was probably up to no good. All things considered, they were technically about to go undercover and try and bust a terrorist organization without any form of warrant or license, but hey, they were still doing the right thing!

Team RWBY had changed outfits, and so team JNPR and Neo had done the same. Neo was using a combination of her semblance and an actual outfit. She looked like a completely different person, with black hair that was tied into twintails, eyes to match Roman's deep green, and a getup that was as goth as Ruby, Neo had practically transformed. It threw everyone for a loop at first before she changed her eyes to normal for them.

Pyrrha had gone almost completely casual, probably as an attempt to avoid any of her rabid fanbase that may notice her. Her hair had been let down and rather than her normal spartan like armor, she wore a simple pair of black jeans and a bronze pullover.

Jaune was almost in his normal outfit, but he had forgone his hoodie and armor plating and now just had a white t-shirt and jeans. Oddly enough he was wearing a fake pair of glasses that actually did make him look quite different than he normally looked.

Ren was wearing a pink muscle shirt, which Neo laughed a little at because the boy was more lean than muscular. He wore a pair of baggy white shorts and had tied his hair up a little higher, and had all of it tied up rather than just in the back.

Nora looked like a disco derby had exploded and she was in the center of the blast. She wore a pink shirt and skirt, and had put two pink finger marks under her eyes. There was also a lot of glitter and Neo was doing her best to avoid inhaling any of it. She also had mixed leg warmers, one being green, the other being blue.

They were all currently discussing the plans for their impromptu attack on the Fang.

"So is everyone clear on where they're going?" Ruby asked.

"Why can't I go with Renny!?" Nora whined. Ruby made a small frown before explaining.

"Ren and Neo are the quietest people on our team aside from Blake. But she has to infiltrate the rally so they have to be the ones to hide in case she and Sun need backup," Ruby stated. Nora deflated. It was known to all that Nora was not the sneaking sorts. The only time she seemed to be able to stay silent was when she was sneaking up on one of them to surprise them.

"Is everyone else clear?" Ruby asked again. Everyone nodded. Due to the size of their group, they decided that splitting the operation up between everyone would get the best results. Ren and Neo would shadow Blake and Sun while the two faunus got into a White Fang rally. Meanwhile, Ruby and Weiss would be going to the CCT to fish up information on any recent Fang activity. Jaune and Pyrrha were tasked with going to the other side of town to see if there was any activity in the shadier sections of Vale. Pyrrha was chosen because it was likely she could deal with any issue that came their way and Jaune was with her to watch her back. Yang, Neptune, and Nora would be going to a well known information broker to see if they could find out where all the dust was going.

Neo had asked which broker and Yang had replied with 'the most well known one in town' to which Neo gave her a card. It was a black card with red detailing and it simply had a series of numbers and letters on it. Neo showed Yang a message that told her to give that card to the bartender. The blonde made a face at that, but decided that it was worth a shot. After all, if anyone in their group knew about the criminal underground, it was Neo.

With all of their jobs squared away, they all nodded to one another.

"Be careful everyone. Don't take any unnecessary risks," Ruby said. Jaune stating a similar note to his team. Everyone separated and set off.

The night was still young after all, and there was much to do.

* * *

Yang, Nora, and Neptune were currently stood in front of the club's front doors, Nora was still a little on edge about Ren sneaking in such a dangerous way, but she trusted him. The bouncer was staring Yang down like she'd start attacking on the spot. Not that that sounded _unlike _the blonde, but how did the bouncer at this random club know that?

"You're not coming in here. Boss' orders," he growled. Had Yang been here before? Nora was ready to do her thing and get to smashing doors down, but Yang stopped her. The blonde stepped forward and leaned in, smiling the whole time.

"Aw come on, we don't want a repeat of last time now, do we?" she asked sweetly, never once losing her smile.

The bouncer didn't say another word. Granted, he didn't let them in, instead he turned around and fled inside the club, the door slamming shut behind him. Yang lost her smile and turned to Nora.

"Okay, well we tried the nice way, now we can do it the Nora way," she said, a much different smile now coming to her face. Nora mimicked it in turn.

"Wait, what's the Nora way—" Neptune was cut off by an explosion that rocked the street and the large metal doors that were just in front of him now deep into the club and embedded into the wall. That was probably the Nora way.

"Are you like, serious?" a feminine and prissy voice demanded.

"We like, just had these doors fixed you fucking maniacs!" a very similar voice followed. Looking to the source, two very similar looking girls, twins probably, were standing ready to fight. One was in a deep crimson outfit, while the other wore a matching outfit but in white. A growl from across the club signaled a massive man and an army of grunts, all with swords and guns trained on the three.

"Uh... hello?" Neptune tried, a gun being pushed closer towards him. Talk about bad service!

"Wait wait wait! I have this! A friend gave it to me!" Yang declared, pulling out the little black and red card that Neo had given her. Junior recognized the card instantly, as did the twins, it seemed.

"Put your shit away boys! You three, with me," he demanded, turning and walking back to the bar. The three teens all looked to one another before shrugging. As they trailed behind the man, the two twins followed after them, obviously keeping them surrounded in case they tried anything.

The made it to the bar and Junior hopped over the counter. The three students sat down, with the twins sitting on either side, effectively keeping the three of them locked down. Not that it would work that well, but it was the thought that mattered.

"Where did you get that?" Junior asked, hands on the counter and glaring the three trainees down.

"A friend gave it to me," Yang stated, adding no more. She had the card in her hands still. That is, until the red twin snatched it out of her hand. She looked over the card and looked past the students to her sister.

"Melanie, it's hers," she stated simply.

"How did you get this blondie?" Melanie demanded, "and keep an eye on the ginger Miltia. You saw what she did to the door."

Miltia glared at Nora, who waved back with a smile.

"I already told you a frie—" Yang was cut off by Melanie.

"Look goldilocks, the person this belongs to doesn't really like giving their shit away. Especially not to somebody like you," she sneered.

"But Neo gives us lots of stuff! I'm pretty sure she steals most of it, but at least she cares enough to get us gifts!" Nora chimed before Yang could answer.

"How the hell do you know Neo?" Miltia asked.

"Well duh, she goes to Beacon with us! Oh! And her dad is one of our teachers! Professor Torchwick!" Nora continued, Yang rubbing the bridge of her nose at the gingers lack of tact.

"Yeah. What she said," Yang groaned.

"How the fuck did Roman manage to get into Beacon!?" Junior finally shouted, looking incredibly confused. Miltia and Melanie also looked quite shocked.

"Well, it kinda started the night I trashed your club..." Yang began, retelling what she could and what she knew about the criminals story and eventual acceptance.

"Goddamnit Roman, you're fucking killing me here," Junior groaned into his hands. The twins seemed to find the situation quite funny once they had the full story.

"Hei, I don't know why you're so surprised! That sounds exactly like something Uncle Torchwick would manage to do," Miltia said, smiling at the two crooks antics.

"Please don't insinuate that he and I are close enough for him to be your uncle," Junior complained, the two twins laughing out loud at that.

"Hey, he's the only guy who's stuck around long enough for you to remember his drink order. That sounds pretty close to me," Melanie proclaimed, the bartender groaning further into his hands.

"What the hell do you want?" he finally asked, looking up at the blonde.

"We need info on the White Fang," she stated, getting to the point. She had taken a little longer to tell that story than she had wanted.

"Brothers above, you really do just look for trouble, don't you?" he asked. She shrugged and gave him an unapologetic smile.

"Alright I'll tell you what I know. Can't guarantee that it'll do you any real good though," he answered. She nodded. They'd take what they could get.

* * *

Neo and Ren were currently stood in the catwalks above the old abandoned warehouse. The two had trailed Blake and Sun from a distance before coming into contact with the location. They quickly made their way to the rooftop of an adjacent building before jumping into the broken skylight of the warehouse. Upon entry they had come into contact with two guards.

Before the two could raise any alarms, they were swiftly dispatched by the two silent fighters. They were now crouched and observing the crowd of faunus below them. They spotted Blake and Sun and kept a close eye on the two in case things went south or their cover was blown.

There was something covered in a large tarp, what exactly it was, was difficult to tell. It couldn't have been anything good if they were keeping it in an abandoned building in the less traveled part of town, that much was fact.

Suddenly a large faunus walked onto the raised platform, calling for everyone's attention. He began to spout some generic garbage about being brothers in arms and how they would grant equality to all the faunus of Vale. There was cheering, of course, the faunus in the room being naive enough to believe it. Well, naive and desperate. After all, with the way their kind was treated, it made sense that they would try and latch on to any sense of empowerment they could find. It was a sad truth, but truth nonetheless.

Suddenly, a quiet fell over the room, and the faunus announced that they had a very special guest for the evening. Ren and Neo looked to one another. That couldn't be good. They looked back to see a man on stage. It wasn't who they were expecting however.

"Please brothers and sisters, our leader is on his way, but for now, welcome one of our benefactors dear partners; Mr. Black!" the faunus proclaimed, many of the faunus booing or just outright confused at the man on stage.

"Now now, I get it! Humans are pretty bad! But my boss is working with your boss to make sure that we all get what we need out of this whole situation. After all, if working with a few humans means equality for all of you, doesn't that sound manageable?" the silver haired man asked the crowd. Many seemed apprehensive still.

"But here's a little more, ah, _persuasion, _if you need it," the man said, sweeping the tarp away. Many gasped at the sight, the four students included.

Beneath the tarp was an absolute beast of a machine. It had a cockpit and weapons coming out the wazoo. It stood easily fifteen feet tall, and there was a White Fang insignia spray painted onto the side.

Neo quickly signed to Ren, _That guy is bad news. Name's Mercury, and his boss is a scary ass lady. We need to pull out._

"Got it," he stated quickly. Count on Ren to be concise about things, the man was a savant at keeping things brief. He quickly grabbed one of his bullets from his pistols and with incredible precision threw it at Blake. The bullet bounced off her temple and she looked his way. He jerked his thumb behind him and she nodded.

She bumped Sun with her shoulder and nodded, the boy understanding quickly. The two were about to leave, but the crowd began to move forward to the platform, making the two stand out if they left now. One of the grunts seemed to notice the two and quickly began signalling to the other grunts.

"That black haired girl and the blonde boy! Those were the two at the docks!" he shouted, everyone turning to them. Mercury smirked at them and began to get into a ready stance. Before he could move, Blake shot out one of the lights and shouted up to Ren and Neo.

"Guys! Out, now!" she yelled, the two dropping down to join up with the two faunus. Once they were together, they started to head for the exit, but a single red dot appeared before them. Shortly after, the outlines of red on a person were also seen.

"Look who's come back," a familiar voice growled. Adam stepped forward, the shadow a large mechanical monster slowly gearing up behind him. He jumped up and back to stand atop the machine, the faint outline of Mercury Black within the cockpit.

"Run!" Sun yelled, the four turning and heading for the window instead. With ease, they all leapt up the scaffolding and out the glass. They landed on the roof and continued sprinting, not looking back even when it sounded like the wall had exploded behind them. Looks like they'd need to call for backup.

* * *

Junior had told them everything he could. Once he authenticated that they did, in fact, know Neo and Roman, he was a lot more forthcoming with the details. He and the twins had followed them out of the club and onto the street.

"Okay, now run along back to your school. And tell Roman to pay me!" Junior said, the twins giggling at his antics. The blonde nodded and waved.

"Alrighty then! Now that we have all that info, maybe we can—" Nora was cut off by the sound of a scroll ringing. Everyone checked to see whose it was, before Yang finally found her scroll and answered. Junior and the twins were watching in curiosity.

"Blake? Blake is that you?" she asked. There was a lot of background noise.

"Yang! Anybody! We need backup!" the faunus yelled, more noise behind them. Nora immediately looked serious. If Blake was in trouble, Ren was in trouble.

"Wait! Where are you guys!?" Yang asked, Neptune and Nora sharing a worried look. The three criminals were now observing the scene before them. A loud series of rumbles sounded, and it seemed like it was getting closer. It sounded almost like giant... footsteps?

All the people present turned quickly to see four teens sprinting and leaping past the next street. Shortly after, a giant mech followed, a figure standing on it waving a bright red sword around.

"HELP US!" Sun screamed out as they passed, echoing from down the street and from her scroll. She quickly hung up and got on her bike, Neptune hopped on back. Nora was about to try and cram on like she had when they came to the club when a hand stopped her.

"You're with us gingy," Melanie said as she held up a pair of keys. She clicked them and a nearby convertible started.

"Melanie, you drive, I'll be in back with thunderhead," Miltia stated. She looked to Nora and nodded, Nora doing the same. The two hopped in back while Melanie started the car.

"Girls, please don't die! And if you can, try not to scratch the car! I just had it washed!" Junior yelled. The twins laughed and nodded.

"Oh, and there's something in the trunk in case you need it," he added, before waving them off. They all sped off, the sound of engines being pushed to their limits echoing throughout the streets. Nora got a text from Jaune.

_Pyrrha and I are on our way, but we're all the way at the city walls. Might be too long._

Looks like those two wouldn't make it in time. Shame too, Pyrrha would've been great here. In the meantime, Nora turned to Miltia and asked her an important question.

"Why help us?" she asked the girl in red. She scoffed and looked away.

"Neo is like, our sister. And we never let a sister down," she stated as though it was obvious. Melanie voiced her agreement too. Nora laughed it off and transformed Magnhild into grenade launcher form. The wind was whipping at her hair.

Time to do things the Nora way again.

* * *

"You know Roman, I don't think I've ever met a man quite like you," Glynda stated. The two had just finished a very awkward dinner and the thief suggested a walk to disperse the mood. She had agreed happily, not wanting to be stuck in that snobby establishment any longer. So that's why the two adults found themselves walking the city streets of Vale, the highway exit just across the street from them.

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not," the man quipped. She lightly slapped his arm and rolled her eyes.

"I just meant that I haven't met somebody so carefree and relaxed about life," she reiterated. He chuckled.

"Ozpin?" he asked. It was her turn to laugh.

"Ozpin may seem aloof, but that man has a war going on in his mind at all times. I'm surprised he hasn't snapped and tried to marry the coffee machine in all honesty," she stated, earning another laugh from the crook.

"Yeah well, I'm not as relaxed as you may think," he said, his smile dropping, the woman looking to him in question.

"Oh? And why pray-tell is that?" she asked. By this point the two had stopped. Roman suddenly looked very different from his normal countenance. He looked... defeated. Like he hadn't slept well in weeks.

"I sometimes feel like I did it all wrong," he started suddenly, shocking her with the admittance, "I know I obviously did something wrong with all the crimes, but that's not what I mean. I mean that I feel like I didn't do the best I could for myself or Neo."

This kind of emotion was rare from the thief, and Glynda was waiting, wide eyed for him to continue.

"It feels like I failed both of us. I failed myself by dropping out of Shade and turning to a life of crime, and I failed Neo by dragging her into it. I can't let her know that though because I know for a fact that she would feel like I'm calling her a burden, and she doesn't need that on top of all the other shit she's been through. So I just inda have to hide it all. I can't let anyone know that I know that I'm a shitty person, because if I do, then I'm only telling everyone that I failed; at being something better and being a father. It just feels like I'm in it alone sometimes," the thief sighed after finishing, looking off into space as he brought up a cigar and took a deep drag.

Glynda was visibly surprised by the man's tirade. Never had she seen him express such raw and unmitigated feelings like that before. She didn't even know how to really react, which was also not helping the tension right now.

"I... Roman I never would have thought... I'm sorry," she tried, he waved her off.

"Forget about it Glyn. It's nothing that I haven't been dealing with already," he stated, still not looking at her. That seemed to light a fire in the woman.

"No," she declared, the man looking her way with a curious look, "I won't just forget it. You are trying, Roman, and that's something that people in much better positions than yourself even do. You may have made some terrible choices in the past, but you have done everything you've done for that girl. You owe it to her to stop running from this, and face the new reality: you're trying again now."

It was his turn to look at her in shock. Nobody had ever given him positive support before. It was... nice. It felt like he had somebody on his side, that chose to be on his side because they could, not because they had to. He hadn't felt that since Neo all those years ago.

He was about to respond when a loud and chaotic crashing noise sounded out throughout the streets. The two hunters looked around in confusion. The noise was getting louder. All of a sudden, there was another crash, and a shadow suddenly appeared over head. Glynda turned just in time to see a car soaring her way.

"Glyn! Move!" Roman shouted. He dove and tackled her to the ground, the carsailing just above them as they lay on the ground. He propped himself up on his hands and looked down. Glynda looked back up at him, the two in a position that many would call scandalous. Her face slowly turned red and he could feel his neck heat up a bit.

The two shook it off and he got up, offering a hand and helping her up as well. They looked around and saw a large metal frame dashing up the exit to the freeway, a man waving a red sword in the air standing on top. Before they could question that oddity, some familiar faces passed by in motor vehicles. As the two adults slowly realized what _that _was they had just seen, two more familiar faces speed by; one running at breakneck speeds, the other gliding across the ground on glyphs.

"You can't be fucking serious," Roman managed to mumble. Glynda looked as incredulous as he did.

"You really can't be fucking serious," she replied, the two adults beginning to dash after the destructive scene. This was going to be pretty hard to do in formal attire.

* * *

"Wow, that thing is a lot bigger up close!" Melanie shouted, having to do so in order to be heard over the freeway traffic and wind. Oh and the highway being destroyed by a mech that was three times her height, that was pretty loud too.

Already, the teens had begun engaging the machine and it's tagalong. Adam had been batting aside any attempt to damage the thing from a range, meaning that they'd have to get up close to do anything significant. From their place on the freeway, they could see the back of the machine, Yang and Neptune were trying to mount an assault on its rear.

Sun, Blake, Neo, and Ren were jumping on cars, shooting at the machine and trying to land a lucky shot. Neo had no gun and so she had taken to blocking bullet fire from the gatling gun attached to the arm of the mech. The bullets went everywhere, very few even coming close, but the rare few that did were blocked by the girl. Sun had taken a meditative stance, sending clones of himself to explode against the hull of the machine.

It took aim once more, Adam getting ready to block any counter fire, when an electric shock erupted from behind. Neptune was stood on back of Yang's motorcycle and was firing electric pulses at the two criminals. Adam growled and fired back, Yang dodging between lanes and cars to avoid getting hit.

Melanie was doing much the same as Yang, though one could say her driving skills were better when they considered she was doing the same maneuvering in a car rather than on a bike. As she swerved around cars, Nora was launching grenades, but due to the fear of collapsing the whole highway or hurting civilians, she wasn't as trigger happy as normal.

Miltia had no ranged option and was thinking about what to do. As she did, a red and white (hey wait a minute, that was their thing!) blur passed them and two more girls began assaulting the mech and the terrorist. Miltia thought back to what Junior had said. Something in the trunk, right?

Meanwhile, Weiss and Ruby were dashing in and out of combat, staying as mobile as possible. The metal on the paladin was dense though, and their attacks did little more than scratch the paint. Suddenly, they heard somebody yelling.

"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" a girl in red shouted from a car driven by a girl in white (hey wait a minute, that was their thing!) holding what looked to be a large club. She swung the club and held it over her shoulder, the top folding up and showcasing the missile heads inside.

"Junior is gonna be pissed when he finds out you used up all his launcher ammo!" Melanie shouted. Miltia only grinned a toothy grin and pulled the trigger. Weiss and Ruby leapt as far away as possible, and all the teens watched as a veritable wall of missiles rained down onto the freeway and paladin alike.

Sun and Neptune were flung off the side of the freeway, Ren was flung away as well and Nora jumped to catch him. This left team RWBY, Neo, and the twins as the only remaining combatants as they all fell under the road with the mech. The smoke cleared and showed that the mech was definitely scratched up, but still functioning fine. Adam was glowing an angry red, a sign that he had absorbed most of the damage and would be going for the kill.

Neo made some motions towards the twins. They didn't know sign language, but they seemed to understand Neo when she just made random gestures and pantomimed things. They nodded and got on either side of her, team RWBY readying for a fight as well.

"Leave the faunus and the little monster to me," Adam stated, dashing forward and attempting to cleave them all in two. His energy was wasted as not just one, not two, but all seven of the girls shattered and were gone. They were nowhere to be seen and Adam could hear the mech rotating around to try and find them.

All of a sudden the paladin bucked and stumbled a bit, the cause being a sniper shot that had left a large icicle on the hull.

"Ready Neo?" Ruby called, the mute girl nodding with a smile. They'd been working on this one for a while. Ruby smiled and raised her finger to the sky.

"Cookies and cream!" she shouted and the two shattered immediately, a red blur seemingly dashing so fast that it was disappearing in and out of existence. In reality, Neo and Ruby had been working on this move for a little bit now. The idea was that Ruby used her incredible speed while Neo would make multiple illusions, the result being that Ruby appeared to be moving so fast that she wasn't visible, when in actuality it was just Neo masking the reaper until she was in a new location. The whole time, Weiss was in the back, helping Ruby move faster and providing cover fire when necessary.

It worked too, as Mercury attempted to fire wildly into the clearing, hoping that a stray shot would help turn the tides. While this chaos went on, Adam was fending off Yang, Blake, and the twins. The two partners fought well together, but the twins teamwork was clearly their strong point. The two would duck in and out of the man's attacks, and while they didn't score any blows that meant anything, it was clearly starting to mae the formerly horned man see red (no pun intended).

"Ragh!" he screamed as he did a three sixty slash around him. It threw the four back and forced them to regroup. Before Miltia and Melanie could get to each other, a strong blow to the temple sent Miltia flying into a pillar. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Melanie took a savage blow to the shoulder, before taking a slash to her abdomen. It didn't draw blood, but it was enough to break her aura and leave a bruise as she flew and landed next to her sister.

"Now to deal with you and this other annoyance," Adam sneered, sheathing his weapon and getting ready to slash again. Before he could, he was rocked by the paladin slamming into the ground. The machine slowly got back up again, clearly starting to show signs of systems failing if the sparks were any indication.

"Any bright ideas bullseye?" Mercury shouted from the cockpit. The faunus growled at the name but didn't act on it. He needed to stay in control right now. He tensed to dash at Blake and Yang, the two dropping to dodge out of instinct, but he turned and launched himself towards the other three girls.

"WEISS! NEO!" Ruby yelled as the man sped past her and right in front of her teammates. She tried to run to them, but was blocked by the machine swiping at her with a large metal claw.

The two girls tried to block and dodge, but Adam had gone into a frenzy by this point and showed no signs of letting up until one of them went down. Weiss was catching as many of his blows on her glyphs while Neo was deflecting his slashes where she could, but they were getting pushed back and they couldn't keep up the dance of blades too much longer. Weiss didn't have time to use her dust, and Neo couldn't surprise him with his semblance. It was the docks all over again!

The other three were occupied trying to pummel their way through Mercury. The man was just throwing the mech at them now, no care for keeping it intact. He was only distracting and slowing them.

Adam reared back for a semblance enhanced slash, the two girls preparing for the worst, bring their auras to the forefront.

But the slash never came.

Instead a cane had intercepted the swing, but rather than catching the blade on the cane itself, the blade had been sent veering off course and got embedded in a pillar. Adam looked to see his new worst enemy, smirking at him and twirling his cane on his finger by the handle. Adam snarled at the bastard.

"We don't have to do this again, do we t-bone?" Roman asked, doing his best to rile the faunus up. Adam seemed to notice something else was amiss and looked behind him to see the paladin floating and being crushed by some unseen force as Glynda glared at the contraption.

"Look, why don't you just turn yourself in? We can settle this with words, and then when words inevitably fail, I'll kill you personally," Roman suggested, swinging his cane like he was lining up a golf shot. That made Adam even angrier it seemed.

Suddenly, several bullhead flew from above, and a rope fell out and behind Adam. The man tore his sword from the pillar and glared at Roman.

"Mark my words Roman Torchwick, I will see to it personally that your head goes on a pike for all the world to see," Adam promised, grabbing the rope as he was airlifted away. Roman tried firing at him and the bullhead, but the faunus absorbed or deflected all the shots. Roman turned to Neo and Weiss.

"You girls okay?" he asked, concern in his voice but not on his face. Neo nodded and Weiss dusted herself off before clearing her throat.

"I am as well. Thank you Professor," she stated professionally. He just rolled his eyes. She'd have to grow out of that kind of attitude eventually.

The three looked back to see Glynda looking over the other girls. Mercury had been torn from the paladin and tied up by Blake. Roman and the other two walked over as Yang and Ruby helped the twins up.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in, eh?" Roman asked, earning a groan from everyone, Mercury included. Glynda smiled, but she quickly hid it before anyone could see it. But he saw it, and he made sure to wink at her for it. She rolled her eyes at him but surprised him shortly after with her response.

She winked back.

It was quick, sly, confident, and perhaps the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. He did his best not to outwardly react but he still had to clear his throat.

"We will take this young man back to Beacon for questioning. You will all be questioned later. This includes team JNPR, Mr. Wukong and Vasilias, and these two young ladies," Glynda said, gesturing to the two groaning twins.

"Heya girls," Roman waved.

"Hi Uncle Torchwick," the two said in unison, making him laugh a little. Junior hated it when they called him uncle. Suddenly Mercury tried to get a reaction out of all of them.

"Oh noooo, you all got me! What a shame this is, truly. I mean, I can't believe that I got caught—"

"Roman, please do your thing," Glynda cut him off.

"With pleasure," Roman responded.

"Wait, what's his thi—" Mercury was cut off once more as Roman swung his cane and knocked the boy unconscious. The girls all thanked him and he did a little bow. It was quiet for a little bit after that, before Yang, being the curious soul that she is, broke it with a question.

"So is anybody else wondering why Torchwick and Goodwich are both out and dressed in formal attire?" she asked. The other girls all nodded and looked to the two adults who were now wide eyed and trying to figure out what to say. Surely it didn't matter if the students knew they were on a date right—oh who were they kidding.

"We were simply searching for you all—"

"We were at a meeting with the other teachers—"

Both professors looked to one another, the girls all catching their lies. Yang, Melanie, and Milita grinned like devious school girls while for Weiss looked annoyed at her team, Blake looked bored, Ruby looked confused, and Neo looked disgusted.

"Damn Torchwick! You two weren't getting it on when we caused all this ruckus were you?" Yang asked, smiling like a dog. The twins seemed to ask similar questions.

"E-enough of this! This behavior is highly inappropriate!" Glynda declared, her ears red. Yang and the twins looked like best friends now, the three whispering and giggling to one another while pointing at the two professors. Glynda looked very out of her element, so Roman came to her rescue.

"Alright kiddos, get the hell back to school now! M and M, ring your uncle, tell him I've got you until tomorrow. The rest of you, get your other teammates and let's leave before we have to deal with the paperwork this involves," he commanded, each girl giving some form of agreement, some enthusiastic, others resigned.

Glynda nodded to him as all the kids walked ahead. The two of them walked behind them from a distance, letting them talk and find out where everyone was. The two adults walked shoulder to shoulder and were silent. As the girls all rounded a corner, Roman stopped. Glynda stopped shortly after, confused as to why he had halted.

Roman looked her in the eyes. Then he looked her up and down, before meeting her eyes again. She looked away for a moment, unused to the blatant attention he was giving her, and when she looked back at him he was right in front of her. She blinked in surprise.

"Roman what's—" he put a finger to her lips softly.

"Thank you," he stated simply, "for listening earlier."

She opened her mouth to tell him it wasn't an issue, but that didn't seem like enough. After all, he had admitted to feeling alone. Wasn't there some way to show him he wasn't truly by himself in the world?

Yes, she reasoned, there was.

Before Roman could step away from her she seized her moment. She was a huntress, a professor, and a grown ass adult. She wasn't going to act like she had to hide anything.

Her lips met his, his breath hitching for a moment before he eased up and returned the kiss. It was very brief but when they pulled away, they were looking at each other in shock. He looked completely lost for words. She did her best to clear her throat and not stammer.

"You aren't as alone as you'd think," she said, both of them still looking into one anothers eyes. He smiled a little and she smiled back, the two simply sharing a moment in time together.

"How about we try this again sometime. I'll make sure to block the doors and windows so the kids can't get out," Roman said. She laughed lightly, the noise soft and melodious.

"That sounds delightful," she responded. He bowed his head and held out his arm. She linked hers through it and they went back to trailing behind their arrant students.

All in all, it had been a pretty good date.

* * *

**Holy shit that was a long one. This came out to like eighteen or so pages. Also, really happy to be back and writing again!**

**Hooray! Romance is in the air! And we get a few more characters introduced to each other. Will they appear more? Only time will tell I suppose.**

**In the meantime, please continue to support this fic! I'll update when I can, but college must come first! Please favorite, follow, and review!**

**Have a lovely time, and remember not to bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Jaune and Pyrrha's POV**

"Hey Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as the two walked the inner city streets of Vale.

"Yeah Pyrrha?" he responded, looking to his maybe-girlfriend. It wasn't official bu they had tried some... things, after a few of their training sessions.

"Would you like to... go back to the dorm room?" Pyrrha asked. He looked surprised.

"But what if something happens?" he asked, on the fence about abandoning his friends and a mission.

"Jaune, there are nine of them. They can handle anything that might come their way," she assured. She traced a finger up his chest and to his lips.

"I... suppose you're right," he admitted, smiling at her. She smiled back and the two went back to Beacon.

Some say they heard a lot of noise coming from the JNPR dorm that night, but the lights were off, so it must've been something else.

Jaune and Pyrrha had a good time though. Seriously, how much trouble could they _really _get into?

A frantic call said that maybe it was more trouble than originally anticipated.

Jaune texted back saying they were too far to make it. Pyrrha dragged him back under the covers after that.

Yeah, they would be fine.


	11. Chapter 11

**Jesus lord I swear I'm not dead! College is a lot of new stuff being hurled at me a mile a minute.**

**Shouldn't have come for psychology.**

**I am the sadness.**

**IMPORTANT: This is the chapter that I make a really big decision that changes a lot of cannon. Likewise, some of you may think it seems odd or even lazy, but please try and bear with me, I'm trying to give more characters that I love time in the spotlight that they don't get in the show.**

**Anyways, I'll save a better authors note for later, let's get into this!**

* * *

Roman's class was pretty weird, even Neo could admit that.

"And you place this part here..."

Currently the handsome their was having the class put... something together. It looked like a weapon of sorts but it was a little difficult to tell.

"Um, Mr. Torchwick?" Pyrrha called hesitantly.

"What is it Nikos? We're in the middle of instruction. And don't ask me to use the bathroom! You're all grown ass kids you can go without my permission!" Roman responded. The champion took a moment to try and put her thoughts into words.

"Well, it's just that... I don't think this is a very good idea," she voiced, a few other students agreeing.

Neo had faith that Roman knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn't the best thief in the kingdom for nothing!

"What _are _we building exactly?" Yang asked, holding up the small metal device. Hers, like many students, was just a humble of wires and circuit boards. That wasn't even mentioning the dust crystal that came with their premade toolkits! What was the dust for!?

"Well isn't it obvious Goldilocks?" the thief asked, earning a head shake from the rest of the room. Even Weiss, Ruby, and Ren agreed, and they were the only students in the room who's little device looked like Roman's diagram on the board!

"It kinda looks like a death ray," Yang replied, pointing to Weiss's device, which was coming along a lot better than everyone else's.

"Don't be ridiculous!" he huffed.

Neo still had full confidence. This was Roman! That meant this had to be some sort of ingenious invention!

"It's a _miniature_ death ray," he stated matter-of-factly.

Or he could be a dumbass and have a bunch of kids build a death ray. Neo rubbed her temples in agitation.

"Ro— Mr. Torchwick. Please refrain from having the students build potentially self harming devices in class," Goodwitch commanded as she entered the class. Roman coughed and tried to come up with an excuse. Meanwhile, every student watched with rapt attention.

It was no secret to anyone now that the two professors were seeing each other after classes, and not in the disciplinary way. Most of the students saw the two professors leave arm in arm last week, and two of the biggest gossip mongers in the school had been spreading everything they knew about the two professors.

Said students were actually in the class at the moment. It was a first and second year joint class, and Coco and Yang were ready to record anything that went down at a moment's notice.

"Well, it's not a personal weapon or anything, it's just a—"

"Contingency plan?" Goodwitch finished with a raised eyebrow.

"Well. Yes?" Roman responded with a shrug.

"Do remember that the last _contingency plan _you made and used would have broken your arm had your aura not been active," she scolded, the thief having the courtesy to at least look sheepish about it. It was pretty obvious they would continue building the death rays regardless, but at least he would pretend he was sorry.

"Gotta live and learn, right?" he asked. Everyone remained quiet, except for Coco who, much to the chagrin of her team, gave the man finger guns. He returned the gesture.

"A for the day," he commented. She sat a little taller after that, and many of the students, not for the first time, questioned the legitimacy of the man's class.

Goodwitch sighed and walked up to where the thief stood, the class took place in the same room where combat training was held so the two teachers were now always around one another due to their shared classroom.

"Let it be a lesson that just because you have the option to use excessive force, doesn't mean you should. For instance, if these so called contingency plans were meant for emergencies only, it's very likely that you are already cornered, out of aura, and on your last leg," the deputy rattled off, many students paying attention and dropping their devices.

"But what if we're completely surrounded and outnumbered?" a student asked.

"Well—"

"No contingency plans," Goodwitch cut Roman off, the man stepping back and remaining quiet afterwards.

Neo meanwhile was staring holes through the disciplinarian. She had seen and heard first-hand that the two were currently seeing each other on their free time. When she had tracked Roman down to annoy— er, question him about it, the man hadn't given much away.

_"What can I say? I guess she just fell for the Torchwick charm!"_

That wasn't a thing! Roman didn't have charm with the ladies! He had charm when it came to swindling money and other resources, not hearts!

Neo had been trying to sneak out to spy on the professor for the last week, but team JNPR had been holding her back telling her that it was 'not worth worrying about' or that 'she didn't stand a chance against Goodwitch'.

Just because she didn't have a chance didn't mean she wouldn't try!

So Neo had been pretty agitated lately. The only person who had her beat was Blake, who had been the furthest thing from happy since last week. The moody girl seemed to only be more angry since their giant mech fight.

Oh, and speaking of, Goodwitch had wanted to bring the hammer down hard on all of them, and when Junior showed up the next day to get the girls, he was pretty mad at them for getting the car totaled.

And wasn't _that _a sight. Having Goodwitch, Roman, and Junior all looking at them in varying levels of disappointment was pretty rough. Junior apologized to Goodwitch on behalf of his nieces, and the twins had hardly felt sorry in the first place, so Goodwitch at the very least seemed to tolerate Junior's presence.

One good thing that they got out of their night out was that the twins had somehow managed to find their way into all of the girls contact list, sans Pyrrha, who had already been back at Beacon with Jaune oddly enough. Ren had been offered, but a look from Nora had him politely decline.

Smart man.

"Neo, you're staring again," Ruby whispered, the reaper leaning forward from the tow behind her. Neo nodded and went back to staring, completely missing her point and causing teams RWBY and JNPR to sigh.

"What do you think they did with that Mercury guy?" Yang asked. They all shrugged, Nora saying something about a secret dungeon or something to that effect.

Yeah right, as if they'd have a dungeon in a school!

* * *

"I still don't understand why you would build this dungeon in the school," Roman questioned the two headmaster's. Ironwood sent a sidelong glance at Ozpin, who refused to look at the general. Roman rolled his eyes.

"You guys are pretty open you know? That's probably a pretty big flaw if you wanna keep things a secret," Mercury chimed in from his cage. Well, cage of sorts. It was really just parts from the recently exploded atlesian paladin that had been repurposed by Glynda to make a cell for the kid.

"Shut up you, adults are talking!" Roman said back, getting an indignant eye roll from the silver haired teen.

"I don't suppose you want to tell us where your employer is hiding now, would you?" Ironwood asked, as tactless as ever. This had been going on for the last week, and the kid kept giving them the same answer.

"Unless you wanna give me something in return, my lips are sealed," he responded, the three men sighing. Glynda then stepped forward.

"Allow us to rephrase then," she began, before the makeshift cell exploded out and the pieces began to construct the young man. She leaned forward to stare him down.

"Where is this 'Cinder' and what are her plans?" the headmistress growled. The other three men took an intelligent step backwards from the woman. When it came to something that could potentially harm her students, Roman had quickly learned that it was better to let her do her thing unless you want to be thrown away like a wiffle ball.

"Uh, can we go back to Ironwood questioning me?" the boy asked, Glynda turning her glare to the general. James, the smart man that he was, turned to Roman and asked for a cigar. Roman complied; if it meant he too would be spared Glynda's wrath. The two shared a smoke as the deputy went back to wrong answers out of the boy.

"Okay okay! I'll comply! I'll comply! Don't let me get choked out here!" Mercury shouted as he felt the metal bindings of a once powerful war machine constrict him.

"Wonderful. A job well done team," Ozpin claimed, the other four people present giving him a deadpan look. He chose to ignore it as he questioned the boy instead.

"Now, Mr. Black, what can you tell us about your employer, this, Cinder Fall, as our associate has told us," Ozpin asked, gesturing to Roman at the word associate.

"Not much okay? She barely told me what we were doing past the next month or so," he said, still being held by Glynda.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" the headmaster asked. At this, Mercury grimaced.

"Not without Cinder tracking me down and turning me to ashes," he claimed. Roman stepped in here.

"Kid's right. I can personally attest to the whole 'burning alive' thing. That woman has a heat to her that I think we all know is more than a little... unique," the thief chimed. The other adults couldn't disagree, the powers of a maiden weren't just a simple semblance; they were tried and true magic.

"Look, I don't particularly care for Cinder," Mercury began, "but I can't tell you anything unless you can promise it won't bite me in the ass!"

Roman nodded. It was fair logic. In the criminal world, if you ratted someone out you could expect to have a bullseye painted right between your eyes.

"You guys, over here for sec?" the thief asked, walking away from the floating assassin. The other three adults joined him as Glynda kept Mercury a good fifteen feet away.

"Ozpin, I think we have to take this kid aboard," Roman stated bluntly.

"I should strangle you with your own hat for even suggesting that," Ironwood growled.

"Hear me out, hear me out! I know how this stuff works okay? He's not gonna tell us a thing unless we can assure him that he'll be safe," Roman explained. Glynda looked unhappy at the prospect, Ironwood furious, and Ozpin looked as complacent as ever.

"That makes sense Roman, but how can we be sure he won't just act as an agent on the inside? What if it was Cinder's plan the whole time?" Ozpin asked. Roman thought for a moment as the others continued amongst themselves.

"He seems to be genuine in his fear," Glynda added, the general agreeing begrudgingly.

"Genuine or not, that fear still makes him a threat. If he's afraid, there's a large chance he'll just flee back to Cinder instead," the Atlesian stated.

"I'll watch him," Roman said suddenly. The other three looked at him with skepticism. Ironwood was the first to react however.

"Absolutely not. It's one thing to already have a criminal working here, it's another to entrust _another criminal _to the first one!" James proclaimed, turning to Ozpin. Much to the general's chagrin, Ozpin had that 'perhaps not a bad idea' face on.

"Ozpin. Please, don't—"

"Bring him here Glynda," the headmaster asked, James gripping his temples so hard that it sounded like grating metal. Glynda let out a deep and resigned sigh before she brought Mercury to where they were huddled and allowed him to stand. She still kept him bound in metal scraps however.

"We will give you one, very strict, and perhaps life-threatening chance to tell us everything you know, and stay with our associate here," she said, pointing to Roman, who waved at the assassin.

"If you so much as even think about trying to cross back to your employer, I will beat you to death with your own legs," she said, Mercury nodded, any sane person would had they just been threatened by the deputy.

"What she means to say is that we'll promise to keep you alive if it means you won't get us all killed! And I'll be watching you to make sure you don't fuck up," Roman reiterated. Glynda rolled her eyes.

"Our associate here will make sure you are kept under observation and will monitor you and your actions. You will be responsible for listening to him and he will report about you every week," Ozpin stated. Roman threw up an eyebrow.

"Wait wait wait, what are all these technicalities? I didn't say I'd do any of that! And can we call me something other than an 'associate'? I've been working here for at least an entire semester!" Roman exclaimed, Glynda turning to hide her amused smirk.

"So what? I'm like his intern? assistant? ... slave?" Mercury listed, seemingly undisturbed by the aspect that he was pretty much a prisoner surrounded by hunters and trainees who wouldn't hesitate to kick his ass if he did something wrong.

"Hm, I didn't think of that. You do have a class to teach," Ozpin began, the others groaning at the headmaster's usual overlooking of things, "but I think we are in a very... fortunate position."

"What do you mean Ozpin," James ground out. Ozpin turned to look at Mercury.

"You look to be young enough to be one of our students," Ozpin stated.

"No. No no no! NO!" Glynda shouted, "what the hell is wrong with you Ozpin!?"

"It would be the best course of action," Ozpin tried, a piece of the metal scraps flying off Mercury and past his head.

"Like hell it would!" Ironwood shouted.

"What do you both propose then?" he asked, clearly growing bored of the situation.

There was silence for a few seconds before Roman piped up.

"It's kind of the only option that would work," he stated. Glynda and Ironwood turned their glares to him.

"Okay, I can see that this is, in general, a terrible plan. But we can't just have the kid come on as staff! Nobody will think this guy's a teacher! Look at him!" Roman claimed.

"Rude," Mercury replied.

"Shut up," the four adults responded.

"We don't have the choice to chose a better option. We don't know how long we have until our enemies make a move that we won't be able to respond to," Ozpin stated with finality.

"But we can't just have a loose student with no team!" Glynda reminded.

"Well, we did it already with Ms. Politan," Ozpin reasoned.

"But with so many teamless students people will begin to expect nepotism," Ironwood caught on, Glynda nodding and Ozpin humming in contemplation.

"I... think I might know how to fix that. But we'll need to bend some more rules... again," Roman said. Glynda sent him a look, but he waved a hand to assure her he knew what he was doing.

The teachers all looked amongst each other before looking to Mercury.

"I have a feeling I'm gonna wish you just killed me," the assassin groaned.

* * *

Neo was unhappy.

Well, Neo had _been _unhappy due to Roman's 'secret' relationship with Goodwitch, but that's not why she was unhappy now. For perhaps the seventh time in the last five minutes, she shook her head violently back and forth.

"Come on Neo, we need you to cooperate! It's for the greater good," Roman tried. She remained rooted to where she was and signed to him quickly.

_Since when were we here because of the 'greater good'? _She asked. Roman sighed at that.

"Look, don't worry about that okay? We're still surviving, it's just a bit more... long term than before," he said, sounding slightly unsure. Was they going soft by staying at Beacon? Was he? That's not good, soft doesn't survive. Soft often does in a very explodey and horrific way.

_Fine. I get that, _she motioned, _But why _him_?_

"Uh, she just pointed at me, should I be offended?" Mercury asked, currently stuck in a chair. Partly because he knew it wouldn't help if he tried to run. Mostly because Glynda had taken his prosthetics and they were currently sitting on Roman's desk.

"Look, I'm not making you do anything that I know you can't handle," Roman began, "but I know that you're already buddy-buddy with your two teams and I know that they know that this guy's a trashbag and they need to keep an eye on him without letting anyone else know. They're all annoying, but they're not stupid. Well, most of them aren't stupid."

Neo huffed and looked Mercury dead in the eyes. She grabbed one of his legs off the desk and made a few motions. Mercury didn't need to know sign language to figure out what she was saying.

_Try anything and I'll beat you to death with your own legs._

He gave her an 'ok' sign with his fingers and she dropped his leg on the floor. Well that was gonna be a bitch to try and pick up.

Neo looked back to Roman still upset, but more compliant. She put up two fingers and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I did text you I had two things," he said, now more relaxed. He was smiling a smile that Neo knew meant he had a surprise he thought she'd like. From her experience those could sometimes be complete overreaches on his part and she'd hate it, but she tried to hide it for him.

"Well, the headmaster and I came to an important decision," he declared, "girls? You can come in now!"

At this, there was an avalanche of profanity from two very similar voices followed by a much more gruff and agitated voice telling them to shut up and move.

Neo's eyes widened when Melanie and Miltia shuffled in, followed by a very frustrated looking Junior.

"So like, you haven't told us why we're back at this ratty ass school," Miltia whined, she and her sister both standing with their arms crossed. They both looked to Neo and waved, she happily waved back, before looking to Mercury.

"Who's the cripple?" Miltia asked.

"Hey!" Mercury yelled.

"Shut up! And that's Mercury Black," Roman stated simply.

"Wait a minute, like Black the assassin? That Black?" Junior asked, having only been clued in on why he had to bring the twins to Beacon.

"No. Marcus Black is dead. This is his runt," Roman answered, Mercury scoffed at that.

"I'm more than that bastard ever was!" Mercury yelled back before receiving a bonk on the head from Roman's cane.

"Language, we're in a school," Roman scolded. He turned to the twins.

"You two already know about this precocious bastard, so I don't need to fill you in on why we're keeping him a hostage, I mean, _informant _of the school," Roman started, walking around his desk and picking up Mercury's legs. He tossed them at the young man, who wasn't expecting to suddenly get them back and thus, smacked him in the face.

"Seeing as he's got things that we want, we can't leave him with the cops. I don't need to tell anyone in this room that the police aren't exactly top of the shelf when it comes to... well, anything really," the thief joked, earning a laugh from the room. This was a room filled with like minded individuals; AKA each one dabbled in the world of crime, no matter how little it could be.

"So why are _we _here? Isn't this, like, Beacon's responsibility?" Melanie asked. Her sister nodded. Junior sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"Well, he's gotta be watched, and I can't always do it because I have to run a class to run. And seeing as he's too young and unprofessional looking to be an assistant, we had to come up with a new plan," Roman continued, now standing in front of the four teens.

"We need him to blend in and, most importantly, we need to make sure he's watched by people we know will report anything to us if he goes AWOL," Roman explained looking at the girls. They both had a look of surprise.

"You can't be going where I think you're going," Miltia asked, her sister's mouth falling open as she fully realized what was happening. They both turned to Junior, who sighed and nodded. They both gasped in unison.

"How would you girls like a spot at the _illustrious _Beacon Academy?" Roman asked in a bored tone. It was obvious he didn't have the same pomp and circumstance as Ozpin.

"A-are you for real!?" Melanie asked, neither twin looking excited per say, but more in shock that they'd be offered the chance.

Both twins looked to Junior as if to ask permission. The large man sighed.

"I don't want you girls here. This isn't our kind of crowd. But if what Roman told me about actually happens? This place might be the safest spot for a while," he said as he looked away. They looked to Neo who shrugged as if to say 'don't ask me, it's your choice'.

"Melanie. Twin talk," Miltia claimed, her sister nodding and the two immediately walking out of the room. The other four occupants waited as there was hushed exclamations and more profanity. Soon enough, they walked back in.

"Junior, will you be able to handle things on your own?" Melanie asked.

"Probably?" He responded with a shrug. The twins looked to each other before leaving again and resuming their previous conversation. Soon enough after _that _they returned.

"We... accept," Miltia said, Melanie nodding along. Roman rolled his eyes at their antics before coughing into his hand and pulling out his scroll. He pressed the call button and soon after, Ozpin's face popped up.

"Have they decided?" he asked.

"Yeah, now get your lazy ass down here and do your whole naming thing," Roman yawned, clearly done with the whole ordeal already, perhaps even a few minutes ago.

"I'm sure you can come up with something acceptable," Ozpin stated, hanging up immediately after. Roman opened his mouth to retort but swore when the screen went blank.

Jackass.

"Okay fine then, from here on I pronounce you four team uh, let's see... uh, how about... no that doesn't work..." Roman stood there, hand on his hip, trying to come up with a name while the four teens looked amongst each other. Suddenly, Sun poked his head through the door.

"Uh, Mr. Torchwick? Team SSSN is gathered and waiting by the docks for you like Headmaster Ozpin said," the boy informed. Roman cursed Ozpin for signing him up for things without telling him again.

"Alright alright I'll be there in a sec, I have to finish up here first," the thief replied. Sun nodded and left the room. He didn't even know who team SSSN was!

Wait a minute.

SSSN... Sun... Three of those letters were the same... he also had three letters that were the same...

AH HA! Roman snapped and slammed his hand against the desk in realization.

"Moving forward, you four will be known as team MMMN!" Roman proclaimed proudly. Who knew this naming shit would be so hard?

"Team... Moon?" Miltia and Melanie asked, raising an eyebrow. Mercury looked totally unimpressed and Neo had her head in her hands.

"Alright whatever, works for me," Junior said as he turned to leave, "you girls can come back and grab your stuff. Tomorrow you can start all of... this," he waved his hand around.

"Wait, who's the leader?" Mercury asked. Roman groaned.

"Congrats Neo, you're a leader now. Gotta go, bye!" and just like that Roman was off, presumably to retrieve team SSSN, but more likely doing anything else.

Neo was left staring after the man she saw as a father figure. Did he really just stick her with the leadership role? She couldn't even talk!

"Class act, that guy," Junior stated before leaving as well. Melanie and Miltia followed, waving back at Neo with teasing shouts of 'see you tomorrow leader's putting extra emphasis on the leader part.

Neo glared over to Mercury before leaving as well.

"Uh, do you have a screwdriver or something? I can't really put these back on without one!" he called. There was no response, and he sat there with his legs in his arms.

"Goddamnit," he muttered.

* * *

"So... this is a development," Yang said. Everyone else stared her down, causing her to laugh awkwardly and look away.

"No need to tell me," Mercury grumbled before being smacked with a spoon, "ow! What? I didn't even do anything!"

Neo wagged her finger and sat a little taller before smiling.

"She's trying to tell you to be nicer," Miltia explained. Mercury rolled his eyes, before intercepting the spoon before it hits him.

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed before another spoon smacked him in the chin, "Damnit!"

"Are we seriously gonna act like this is normal!?" Blake shouted, finally fed up with the scene before her. And what a scene it was.

Four criminals (one of them was okay, two of them were questionable, and one was a definite trash heap) sat at the same table as teams RWBY and JNPR. The newly minutes team MMMN was a strange combination indeed.

"Well... it's not like we haven't been working with criminals already," Yang pointed out, causing the faunus to groan.

"Get that massive stick out of your ass why dontcha?" Miltia huffed, Blake hissing at her. Weiss sighed and decided to try a different approach.

"I think what our moody friend here is trying to ask is why you're all here, specifically as students?" the heiress inquired. The twins both eyes each other before Melanie nodded.

"We're like, pretty much babysitters for this dumbass," she said, pointing a thumb at Mercury.

"Hey! First of all, I like to see myself as a very mature child, or at least a pretty immature adult! Second, this isn't so much babysitting as it is witness protection," he drawled, the others taking into account what he said.

"What do you mean 'witness protection'? Who's trying to find you?" Weiss asked, ever the observant one.

"Er," Mercury halted. Nobody but Roman actually knew what was _really _going on, and while Neo and the twins knew his ex-boss was a crazy megalomaniac, they didn't know she was magic.

_The asshole worked for the angry douchebag and some other unknown, _Neo's scroll spoke. Oh yeah, Nora had gone and downloaded a text to voice app, which was clunky at times but was better than making eight, scratch that, now eleven people read from her scroll.

"An unknown?" Ruby questioned. Mercury sent a look in Neo's direction, but the girl paid him no mind. She knew Cinder was his old boss, she was present when they first met all those months ago, so why wouldn't she just tell them that?

_Somebody is definitely putting all this together. No way the once-horned asshole is smart enough to do anything other than a train heist, _her scroll read out once more.

The others looked to Blake who looked affronted.

"What?" she hissed.

"Well, you know him better than any of us! Do you think he's clever enough to orchestrate all this?" Yang asked. Blake groaned but thought about it anyways.

"Maybe, but if he is the way he's been going about things isn't like him," she mused.

"Other than that, what makes you think it's an unknown person?" Jaune asked.

_Roman told us, _she typed, smiling smugly. They all groaned.

"Why wouldn't you start with that!?" Ruby asked. Neo smirked and shrugged.

_I wanted to see if anyone would ask me, _she 'said' the others rolling their eyes at her antics.

"So this jerk is here because he worked for this unknown? So wouldn't that mean you know exactly who it is?" Yang pointed at Mercury. He shrugged.

"Yeah I do, but it won't do any of you much. I'm here because the teachers are taking it into their own hands," he explained. It made sense really. The threat had been present for a while now, and the attack last week only cemented that action had to be taken.

In any other case, the staff would leave it to the police. But due to Roman and Glynda being directly involved, Beacon had taken full notice and wasn't going to let anything happen under their watch.

"My guess is that they'll use whatever information I give them to track down all these people and sniff it out as quietly as possible," the young man stated. The others seemed to have a different plan however. Well, Blake did at least.

"What's the Fang's next move?" she immediately interrogated, even holding a spoken up to him in a threatening manner.

"Can't tell you, I can only blab to a select group of people," answered, smirking at the way she seemed to fume.

"Chill out you moody bitch! He just said the staff would handle it!" Miltia chastised. Blake turned her cat glare onto her, but the girl was unfazed, used to weathering worse looks from uglier people.

"Yeah like, so you really think you and your team are as skilled as the professors?" Melanie followed up. Blake was ready to argue but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Blake, they're... right. If staff says they'll handle it then they'll handle it, probably better than we could, and with a lot less property damage," Yang tried to reason with the girl. She glared across the table and stood, before stalking off and out the cafeteria.

"Well, that went about as smoothly as expected," Nora chimed, earning a baleful look from Ren.

"Yeah, what's her problem?" Mercury asked.

"That's none of your—" Yang was cut off by her sister.

"She's obsessed with the White Fang," she stated simply. Ruby why!?

"Ugh, some faunus can't keep their freedom boners in their pants," Melanie groaned, Miltia nodding along. The others seemed surprised.

"Wait you could tell she was a faunus?" Ruby asked.

"Well duh! Nobody wears a bow anymore! That's so out of fashion! That and it moved whenever somebody said something she didn't like, which was about everything in the last ten minutes," Melanie shouted, her sister nodding along.

"Well she walked away as I was about to say that I _can't _tell you guys because of some rules, but I also don't care for rules," Mercury mused. If one listened closely, they could hear distant running.

"If you guys really wanted to know, the Fang are mobilizing in Mountain Glenn right now," and just like that, the sound of heels sprinting across the school got louder, before a black and white rocket slammed into the end of the table.

"Where in Mountain Glenn!?" Blake heaved, breathing heavily, her face red and sweaty from running all the way back.

"How... how did you hear that?" Ren asked. Nora shushed him and patted his head.

"Don't know where, I never saw the operation personally," he told, Blake wilting a bit at the lack of information, "but I can guarantee you that they're there."

"And why would _you _break your silence and tell us this?" Weiss asked, more curious than suspicious.

"Selfish reasons, really. Either you guys stop the whole thing and I get to keep on living, or you die and I don't have to deal with you," he reasoned. While most of the people at the table frowned at that, Neo and the twins had to hide their smiles.

Criminal humor. These normies wouldn't get it.

"Well, this asshat's reasons aside, we can't just mount an expedition to Mountain Glenn!" Weiss reproached, the rest going I to thought.

Blake, on the other hand, looked about ready to run to Mountain Glenn herself.

"We have to go there!" She claimed.

"No can do kit-cat," a snide voice rang from behind her. They all turned to see Torchwick, leaning on his cane in front of him.

"As much as sending a bunch of kids into the crumbling remains of a failed government science fair project sounds delightful, I have been told by Ozpin not to let you kids get involved," he stated, checking his nails, which only added insult to injury due to the fact that he was wearing his gloves.

"But we have to do something!" Blake insisted. At that he raised an eyebrow and grunted.

"Really? _You guys _have to do something? This incredibly dangerous, and definitely-handled-better-by-trained-professionals matter? That's what you have to do something about?" he demanded, all of them going quiet at the man's unnatural serious tone. Well, all of them but Neo and the twins, who knew that was his 'real shit' tone.

"Last I checked, every incident you and your teams were involved in resulted in a massive amount of property damage, trespassing, and most recently, endangerment of lives," he was of course referring to the fact that they had been fighting on a freeway and one can't exactly do that and not get somebody hurt in the crossfire.

"Not to mention that all of this was done without a warrant or, in your case, a hunter's license. Both of which you would need to do just under _half _of the things you guys have done! And they say I'm the one breaking laws all the time," he grumbled the last part, but the message was clear.

Blake looked like she wanted to argue, but looks from her team said that to do so was probably a losing battle.

"So just sit back, focus on the festival, or the dance, or even some of that porn you're always reading, but do not get any more involved than you already have, teachers orders," he stated, leaving no room for arguing.

"Plus, you all have upcoming first year missions coming up, so try and get away from the city of you can. Then I won't have to see you! It'll be a win-win," and just like that he was back to his normal smart-ass self.

"Missions?" Jaune asked. The thief rolled his eyes.

"Ask your friends," he said before turning and walking away.

"First year missions are coming up right after the dance, and we'll have to pick them after the assembly later this week," Pyrrha explained.

"We also get to work with one of the teachers! We should try and get Mr. Torchwick! I wanna see him blow more stuff up!" Nora exclaimed. Neo looked her in the eyes and gave her a 'bring it on' gesture. No way anyone was working with Roman but her!

"Hey! No fair! I wanna watch Mr. Torchwick kick butt too!" Ruby argued, the three girls now having sparks fly between them.

"Ladies, ladies, I'm pretty sure he's taken already," a voice from the next table called. They all looked to see Coco Adel and the rest of team CFVY looking over, with the exception of Fox, who was looking the wrong direction.

"Damn girl, where do you shop?" Miltia asked, scanning the fashionista up and down. Melanie nodded in approval, her index finger and thumb across her chin.

"I'll share if you do," she replied, the twins smirking back.

"Oooo~ am I hearing a girls night?" Yang asked.

Neo rolled her eyes and got up. She had to stalk Roman and make sure he wasn't making questionable choices with women.

"It'll have to wait until after our mission. Second years have the _fortunate _pleasure of going right before the dance. That _I _was supposed to be planning!" Coco drawled before shouting the last part.

"I could help if you want?" Yang supplied. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I would hardly trust you to do something like this alone," Weiss scoffed. Yang rolled her eyes, before getting a mischievous look.

"Then Weiss will help me!" she proclaimed.

"What!?" the heiress shouted back.

"Oh god please, get me out of here, if I have to listen to any more of this I'll out myself now and let Cinder get to me," Mercury begged as Neo turned to leave. She flipped him off, but he followed her anyways. The twins saw and waved to all the others, following their new teammates.

_This isn't really a group activity, _Neo's scroll rang. The twins giggled at her while Mercury looked confused.

"Oh Neo. Neo, Neo, Neo," Miltia droned, "you can't be this overprotective! Let the man have this! Plus I mean come on, Goodwitch is one fine ass catch, you can't deny him this!"

_Can. Will. Also PLEASE never place that image in my head again, _Neo typed. Mercury sighed.

"Damn, didn't think the old man had it in him," he stated. Neo gave him the stink eye. He threw his hands up in mock surrender.

"Seriously Neo, you can't police his love life. Besides, it might not work out and then you don't even have to worry about it!" Melanie tried, but Neo continued forth.

_I'm just trying to make sure that he's not doing anything stupid, _Neo claimed, before stopping suddenly.

"What? What's wro—" Mercury was cut off as Neo shoved him and the twins behind the wall, slowly leaning to peer into the classroom they were near.

"I must say, I never thought anyone would be able to take the lass on a date," the boisterous voice of Peter Port sounded.

"You make it sound like I tamed her," Roman's own voice replied.

"Well can you blame the man? We've seen her crush the spirits of almost every person to cross her, student or otherwise, in the last seven years!" Oobleck claimed, "That you somehow managed to land not just one, but _another _date? It's a phenomenon that you've made it this far!"

"Okay I get it! Jeez you two sound like you've never met a woman before!" Roman groaned. The other two men chuckled.

"No lad, just never one as fierce as Glynda," Peter laughed. Roman let out a small huff of a laugh himself at that. That was fair, the woman was a force of nature.

"How's the other woman in your life taking it though?" Oobleck asked. Roman hummed at that.

"I don't really know. I haven't told her," the two teachers made a sound of concern, "what? What's wrong?"

"Are you sure that's wise?" the doctor asked, "If Ms. Politan is as much your daughter as you and she say, then shouldn't you at least let her know?"

"Indeed! What if she resents the idea!" Port continued.

"Neo's a smart kid, I'm sure she'd understand," Roman responded waving his hand.

"I'm not so sure Roman, a young girl like her? She may be happy to stay by your side, but it could be damaging to wait and reveal it later," Oobleck explained. Roman hummed. He hadn't really thought of it like that.

"Fine fine, I'll call her now and tell her to meet with me," he stated, pulling out his scroll.

"Oh shit, book it!" Mercury whisper yelled, as they all sprinted away. Moment's later, Neo's scroll rang. She picked up and put on a face of innocence.

"Hey kiddo, gotta tell you something. Meet me at my room in the teachers hall," he said calmly. She nodded and heard Port say something along the lines of 'was that so hard' which Roman replied with a middle finger. The call ended shortly after.

"Well there you go!" Mercury said, spreading his arms wide. Neo rolled her eyes.

"Seriously girl, you need to chill with all this," Miltia claimed, waving her hand up and down Neo, "this has to be bad for your skin."

"Yeah, like, take a deep breath or do some yoga or something," Melanie added.

Neo huffed and pouted. They wouldn't get it! Junior wasn't as physically desirable as Roman! They'd never have a chance to feel what she was feeling!

"I say just meet him and tell him you don't like it," Mercury said. She eyed him skeptically.

_I never said I didn't like it, _she defended. The three groaned at her lie.

"Then why are you stalking one of the professors?" he asked. She looked away and chose not to respond.

"Just handle this sister, you've got better things to worry about," Miltia said, bumping hips with her as Melanie did the same on her other side. Mercury gave her a small salute and followed the twins.

Neo sighed. Only one thing to do now then.

* * *

"Hey squirt," Roman said as Neo entered his room. She waved and plopped herself down on his couch, taking up the whole thing.

"Classy," he snarked. She waved her hand in a circle as if to say 'get on with it'. He sighed.

"So I have some news that you may or may not appreciate," he began awkwardly. She rolled her eyes; he didn't even know!

"Recently I may have started... seeing somebody," he tried, as she eyed him.

"Nothing is settled or anything but I— and you're giving me the look which means you already know," he finished. Damnit! She was always really bad at hiding that look.

She sat up and crossed her arms, humphing. She stared at him.

"Oh relax Neo! You know I'm not an idiot!" He claimed. She made a 'fifty-fifty' motion with her hand.

"Everyone's a critic," he grumbled, "look, I'm not doing anything wrong! There's nothing to worry about!"

She raised a brow at him.

"Okay, there's not _much _to worry about," he reiterated. She still looked angry.

"Neo, you will always be number one, next to me of course," he claimed. She sat a little higher but still kept her expression.

_You're going soft, _she signed.

"Don't you start with that! I'm not going any softer than you are," retorted. She thought about herself for a moment, then winced.

"Yeah see? Not that easy to stay in our old world when this shiny new one is all around us," he continued, finally sitting down next to her on the couch. She crossed her arms harder and looked away, pouting.

"Neo, we have to do this," he tried. No reaction.

"I know I said that we weren't going to be heroes, and we're not! We're just here until we can find a way to settle down somewhere else," he continued, hoping that she wasn't tuning him out.

It was pretty obvious to Roman what was happening. It had happened a few times before. Neo felt like he was leaving her, betraying her, etcetera.

Roman sighed. He had to tell her something to make her understand that they didn't have a choice. Sadly, there was only one thing, and he knew it'd make her go through a roller coaster of emotions.

"Neo," he began suddenly, startling her a bit, "there might be a little more... information about Cinder that you might need to know."

She turned to him and while still angry, looked curious. He sighed as he prepared himself to tell her this.

"How did Ozpin start this again? Oh yeah, fairy tales," and just like that, Neo had a lot more to worry about than just her and Roman.

* * *

"Neo? You okay sister?" Miltia asked, waving a hand in front of her face. The small girl had been somewhat unresponsive after she returned from Roman's room. Was she that mad at him?

"Girl, if you don't blink you'll get red eye!" Melanie shouted, still gaining no reaction.

Mercury knew that look though. He had a similar one when he learned about the hidden history of the world and what was inevitably coming.

"I think we should just give her some time," stated, getting up to leave. The twins looked suspicious, but got up to follow him. Neo sent him a small, appreciative nod. He nodded back and closed the door behind him.

Magic. What the actual hell!? Roman was right about one thing; they made the right choice coming here. Being heroes wasn't on the agenda, but if pretending to be one meant they didn't have to be around when the sky started falling?

Yeah, she could be a temporary hero. Nothing permanent, but long enough to make sure she and Roman made it out of this whole mess in one piece.

Neo was thinking about Mercury too. No wonder the guy not only needed to be watched, but protected too! His boss had the ability to burn half the kingdom to the ground (though apparently she couldn't do that quite yet).

She still didn't know how to feel about his budding relationship with Goodwitch. That still made her mad. But she knew that he still trusted her, and he was willing to keep her in the loop. She sighed.

Things were so much simpler when they were just thieves. Criminal life was somehow less work!

But we're they really criminals anymore?

Neo had to think about that one.

Here they were, blending in with hunters, stopping terrorists, teaching classes, making friends, and now even feeding the academies information!

That didn't seem very criminal like.

That seemed a lot more...

Heroic.

_Shit, _Neo thought.

This wasn't what they'd planned for at all.

* * *

"So what mission are you guys trying to go on!?" Nora shouted at the other two teams. Though Neo had officially moved out of team JNPR's dorm, and technically wasn't a joint between them and team RWBY anymore, they all still stuck together.

After all, even if their new sister team was comprised of four criminals, at least they were criminals fighting for good!

Did that make sense? Probably not.

"Dunno, we don't even get to pick until after the dance so I haven't really been thinking about it," Yang replied easily. It also didn't help that she and Weiss (who had been essentially forced to help by this point) had taken over the planning for the dance after team CFVY's departure.

"But speaking of dances," Yang's look turned to one of teasing, "does anybody have a date to the dance?"

Team MMMN seemed to care less, practically ignoring the question altogether. Weiss looked only slightly annoyed, Ruby made a 'blegh' face, and Blake had been in the library since yesterday.

Team JNPR on the other hand had mixed reactions. Jaune and Pyrrha said nothing, only looking at one another before sharing a short laugh. Ren seemed to completely miss the glare Nora shot his way which made everyone else back away from the man.

He'd figure it out eventually.

"Ugh, you're all so boring!" Yang whined, everyone laughing at her disappointment.

"Where's your date then?" Miltia asked, causing everyone to look to the blonde now. She weathered it with ease.

"I don't have time, I have to plan it," she said with a smile.

"Oh, but that doesn't count for me?" Weiss asked.

"No, because you're a priss," the blonde shot back. Said priss made a sound of shock before starting a verbal lashing of the brawler.

"All jokes aside, what's up with Blake?" Jaune asked. At that team RWBY went quiet.

"She's trying to find out _more _about the you-know-who," Yang growled, clearly unhappy with their missing teammate.

"More? What more can she learn that she doesn't already know!?" Mer yet complained. While nobody trusted him at all, they could see his reasoning.

"How'd you know what we were talking about?" Ruby asked. Mercury groaned as if in pain.

"No horns McGee wouldn't shut up about 'Blake this' and 'Blake that's and 'the Fang was her real family and blah blah blah! I mean seriously, get a hobby dude! Read a book, taking up swing dance, anything!" the silver haired boy whined.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Pyrrha asked.

"She won't talk!" Yang shouted before grabbing her hair in frustration.

"Do what Mel and I do," Miltia proposed, "drag her away and tell her the fuck off!"

Yang sighed. That looked like the only way to get things done now.

_At least she isn't running away again, _Neo's scroll sounded. They sighed realizing that that was somehow the best positive they could come up with.

"Ms. Nikos, you will be fighting next," Goodwitch announced. The red head stood and walked down.

"I feel bad for whoever has to embarrass themselves against her!" Mercury quipped.

"Mr. Black, you will be her opponent," the deputy called shortly after.

"Son of a bitch!" he whispered. They all laughed at his expense.

"Mr. Black, the fight stops when your aura is in the red, or about fifteen percent or so," she explained.

"Uh, don't you mean either of our auras?" he asked

"Isn't that what I said?" she asked innocently.

"No, you definitely said my aura specifical—"

"Begin!"

"Oh come on— oof!" his complaint was cut off by a shield to the chest.

He grumbled. She gave him a challenging smirk. She lived for the fight, she'd judge him afterwards. Criminal or not, a skilled fighter was a skilled fighter.

"Let's dance then," he challenged.

And dance they did.

Mercury surprised everyone with his agility. For a guy who looked pretty lazy, he could really jump.

He flew into the air and came back down, landing a heavy kick on Pyrrha's shield, sending her sliding back a few feet. He twirled in the air and stuck the landing.

Leaving no chance for her to get a leg up, he sprinted forward and began fencing with his legs. Every swing she made was met with a kick and he was practically starting to fly with how many times he was switching legs to kick.

Scratch that, he was actually in the air kicking still.

From above the champion, he kicked, using the momentum from her blocks to stay in the air. Finally, she used her semblance, throwing his next kick off track by a little bit.

He caught on immediately.

He missed the kick and ended up stomping into the ground hard, leaving his foot stuck three inches in the stage floor.

Pyrrha was upon him before he could remove his leg, forcing him to fight with one while the other stayed stuck for the time being. She slashed from overhead and he had to do a straight kick up to block it, leaving him in what was pretty much a sideways split.

"Damn, who woulda thought leg day was so flexible?" Melanie asked earning a chuckle from the students around her. Mercury, hearing her from his place, sent a wink towards the audience, still I a split. Some students swooned, but teams RWBY, JNPR, and MMMN rolled their eyes.

Pyrrha tried to capitalize on him but he was a quick thinker. She tried to daze him with a shield bash, but as she rushed forward he brought his leg down fast and hard. The resulting clang sent sparks flying from his heel and her shield, but the more surprising thing was that Pyrrha's shield flew down, burying itself deep into the floor.

Rather than try and retrieve it, the champion pushed with her weapon in javelin mode, making sure to keep Mercury at a distance.

That didn't work for too long as she soon learned he had guns in his heels. _Of course he does, _she thought. She ducked as he spun on one foot, the other extended out and whizzing by her head.

Not one to be put on the defensive so easily, Pyrrha looked for a way to turn the tides. She glanced around subtly, spotting her shield still embedded in the ground. Steeling herself, she transformed her javelin into it's rifle form and took a few shots at the still spinning boy.

Not wanting to take the shots, Mercury flipped around, ducked, and dodged, putting on quite the display. When he was done he readied himself to catch Pyrrha in a charge.

Only she didn't run at him.

She bolted forward to her shield. Not wanting to give her the advantage back, Mercury ran forward as well. She had a small head start but he was fast on his feet and was closing in quick. Just as he was about to attempt a straight kick to her chest, she made a move he wasn't expecting.

Rather than attempt to retrieve her shield, she took a long, bounding step, planting both feet on her shield, before using it to add extra height to her jump. Mercury had little time to react, and out of pure reflex threw his already extended leg up to block her. Unfortunately for him, it lacked the force his first upward kick had, and the result was vastly different.

Pyrrha threw all her weight into the overhead slash, even going so far as to push her sword with her semblance. The assassin's kicks were capable of easily blocking her standard attacks, so she had to put a lot more force behind her strike, and make sure he put a lot less force into his.

The issue with her plan was that she wasn't accounting for the fact that the reason Mercury's kicks were so strong was because his legs were not real.

She realized a little too late when her strike completely dismembered the boys prosthetic.

To say the other students freaked out would be an understatement.

"OH MY GOD!"

"SHE COMPLETELY SEVERED HIS LEG!"

"SHE'S A BIGGER BEAST THAN I FIRST THOUGHT!"

"BROTHERS ON REMNANT PYRRHA!" Yang screamed, grabbing her hair. Ruby had shrieked and fell backwards. Weiss looked sick, Jaune didn't look too well either. Neo and the twins sighed and looked disappointed. Ren was staring wide eyed and mouth hanging open, and Nora was cackling maniacally.

"YES! FINALLY SOME LEG BREAKING!" the ginger shouted as the class panicked. Pyrrha herself looked like she had just lost ten years of her life, her face pale as she dropped her weapons and ran over to the fallen boy.

"I AM SO SORRY!" she screamed, trying to help him. He looked... remarkably calm, all things considered. Maybe he was in shock?

Glynda looked ready to pop a blood vessel, in part because of the students freaking out, but also because Roman was currently leaning on her for support, laughing so hard that he had dropped his cane and his hat had fallen off.

"CLASS! ENOUGH!" Glynda finally shouted, everyone going silent, but still looking afraid. The deputy sighed.

"Mr. Black, I apologize for this inconvenience. Team MMMN, please come down here and assist your teammate to the infirmary. They will handle the situation," he demanded calmly.

"But he— and his leg— shouldn't we do more!?" Pyrrha asked, looking like she was about to break down. Roman was coughing the last of his laughter away now, and was trying to console the girl. He was failing. Badly.

"N-No! It's ok-kay! He just lost his leg up!" Roman gasped out, many students reeling in shock that he'd make light of the situation.

"Wait wait wait, I got a better one! He- he _knee_-ded to do a better job of blocking!" he wheezed Glynda growled and punched him in the stomach, causing him to wheeze in a much different way. Neo silently approved from the crowd. Mercury rolled his eyes from his place on the floor.

"Can somebody please hand me my leg back!?" he finally spoke up. Pyrrha hesitantly, and a little disgustedly, picked up and handed the leg to the boy. But what was he going to do with his severed leg!? Surely he couldn't just put it back on!

_Click._

"Alright, that'll do until I can actually fix the break," the silver haired boy stated as he wiggled his leg around, further freaking the other students out. What was even more shocking is that he stood up directly after and seemed more bored than horribly disfigured.

"What?" Pyrrha so eloquently put, the rest of the class following in a similar manner. Goodwith sighed,

"Pyrrha Nikos, you win this spar. Do use this as a reason to hold back just a little when targeting a weaker spot," the deputy advised, "and Mr. Black, don't try to counter such an obviously powerful strike with such a weak deflection. Just because your legs are somewhat expendable, doesn't mean you should just let them be torn off."

Mercury rolled his eyes and gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. The woman just took a deep breath and decided to end the day early.

"Class dismissed. Please try to collect yourselves until tomorrow," she ordered as she and Roman walked away. While none of the students could hear them, it was obvious Glynda was chewing the thief out to very little effect as he seemed to laugh it off and deflect back.

"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?" Yang screamed, still shocked, just as many of the students were. The twins had gone to retrieve Mercury and Neo was patting the blonde on the back.

Well, things could only get better from here right?

* * *

"Ma'am, from what we can tell, they are holding Mercury prisoner. Probably trying to interrogate information out of him," Emerald reported. Cinder raised an eyebrow at how relaxed Emerald was considering how bad the news was. Mercury wasn't _especially _important to her plans now that her plan to sneak into Beacon had been foiled by that bastard thief. But he still had valuable intel on what she was planning, and it was possible he'd give it up if it saved his sorry metal ass.

"You don't seem too broken up about the loss," the raven haired woman decided to point out. Emerald did a deep, theatrical sigh.

"I am absolutely distressed! He was like a brother to me! The best friend I always wished I had!" she claimed, grasping at her face.

Ah, so she was just happy that Mercury was finally gone but didn't wish to say so. Cinder shook her head at that.

"It is unfortunate indeed. Sadly, we cannot afford to stage a rescue. We will go ahead with the plan as is," Cinder stated calmly. Emerald dropped her act and looked curious, if not concerned.

"Are you sure that's wise ma'am?" Cinder gave her a look after she finished saying that.

"I-I simply mean that if Mercury dropped any information, it might not be the best idea to do things the way we planned," she stuttered out, not wanting to make her boss think that she was second guessing her. Cinder chuckled and looked out the window.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head Emerald. I made a call for an... ally, I suppose, to help with the next phase. He's a little troublesome at times, but I'm sure he can get the job done just as well," Cinder claimed, checking her nails.

"And the CCT?" Emerald asked. Their initial plan was to sneak into Beacon as students and have Cinder place the virus that would help them during their takeover of the Vytal Festival. With that plan dead, she was wondering how that would happen.

"Oh I have that handled, dear Emerald," she cooed, "and you'll be assisting them while I meet my ally to prep for the breach."

"And who would that be?" Emerald asked, suddenly feeling like somebody was watching her.

"Why don't you just let her introduce herself," Cinder chuckled as she left the room. Emerald heard something land behind her and spun around, ready to draw her weapons.

"Keep your hands to yourself, human," a figure spoke. It wasn't that dark in the room, so why was it so hard to make them out? Emerald got her answer when the shadows on the girl gave way to a normal skin tone and a long, curly ponytail. The girl was wearing a White Fang mask (which helped Emerald figure out who supplied the new member of their little group) and had a small dagger like weapon at her hip.

"I'm Ilia," the girl, Ilia, stated curtly, "and you and I will be making a mess of things at Beacon while our bosses handle the operation in Mountain Glenn."

Emerald narrowed her eyes. She didn't like how this girl carried herself. But if this was what Cinder told her she must do, then she'd do it well.

"Fine then," Emerald huffed, "hope you're better than the last guy."

The two of them stared each other down. Emerald didn't like the look in the faunus's eyes. She looked like she had an ulterior motive, and that she would betray all of them if it meant she could get to her goal. Emerald at least felt like she understood that to a degree.

After all, she'd give anything to make sure Cinder came out on top.

Because when she did, her mistress would burn it all down.

* * *

**Goddamn I am sorry once more! For being late with this and for it being so long! It might be a little disjointed and that's because I haven't written in a bit and what little writing I have done has been for essays or in APA format.**

**Yuck.**

**At any rate, I hope you all like the new team! I always had a special fondness for the criminals in the show, they always just seemed like they had so much more to them ya know? Maybe that's just me though, who knows?**

**As I said, I am going super off canon now! That's the idea of an AU after all! As always please follow and leave a review! I love reading your reviews, it's become a favorite pastime of mine!**

**Other than that, please have a lovely time!**

**And, unlike me, don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Never skip leg day**

Mercur was feeling very put off by the sight before him.

"How do they work? Are the detachable at will? If so, how? Can they use dust? Do they feel heavy? How do you load them? Do you even wear shorts?" Ruby had been rattling off questions a mile a minute and nobody was doing anything to stop her.

"Can I have them back?" the assassin asked, holding an arm out to the young reaper. Said girl was holding his legs, not attached to him, and looking over every inch, poking and prodding here and there, trying to find out how his legs worked.

"Sorry Stumpy, you're not getting those legs back until she can take them apart and put them back together by memory," Yang said, laying a hand on his shoulder. He groaned at the nickname and the information. They were his freaking legs! He had a right to have them back!

"Guys, I'm back from the library and I think I just made a breakthrough with the Fang and what they're planning on—" Blake cut herself off as she looked at Mercury, who was laying, legless, on her bed and Ruby who, from her angle at the door, looked to be tearing his legs apart.

"AHHHHHHH!" Blake shrieked before passing out, her eyes rolling back and ears twitching.

"Oh yeah, I forgot she wasn't in class today," Yang said simply. Mercury sighed and dragged himself off the bed, through the halls, and back to his teams dorm.

He'd get his legs back tomorrow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Back again to ruin your day!**

**Or make it depending on whether or not you like this story.**

**So RWBY Volume 7 has begun. Let's hope things go smoothly and that the fandom doesn't tear each other apart before episode five.**

**ALSO I learned recently that Neo's weapon AND semblance have a name. Her weapon is Hush and her semblance is Overactive Imagination. I will refer to them as such from now on.**

* * *

Blake was not a happy camper right now. She had spent the better half of the last week staring at the computers in the library looking for new leads on the White Fang. Not to mention she was still on edge due to Mercury's arrival and sudden enrollment.

Was she the only sane one!?

Neo had been giving her sad looks for the last week, shaking her head Everytime she got up to leave. Blake was really starting to hate that look. It made her think of her parents and how they looked when they told her they didn't like Adam. They had said "he's dangerous," and he'll "end up doing bad things."

Which was all true, but she was young! Younger. Whatever, she wasn't the one in the wrong just because she completely disregarded her parents advice and then ran away from several of her problems in a row without explaining or attempting to reach out to any of her allies.

That didn't sound like her at all.

As of now though, she had been... lured away from her station at the library and was currently being stared down by Yang and Neo. Yang looked calm enough, perhaps a little annoyed but not angry. Neo looked bored but she was giving Blake that same sad look. Blake gave her a glare back.

"What's this about?" Blake asked curtly. Neo raised an eyebrow and gestured around the empty room as if to say "what else!?"

"I wanna tell you a story," Yang said simply. Blake rolled her eyes. This was a waste of her time.

"This really isn't necessary," she groaned. Yang shrugged and delved into her tale.

It was... sad, she supposed. She wasn't exactly sure what Yang was trying to get at. She wasn't a child! And just because they were both looking for someone didn't mean that it'd end the same way!

"But this is different. I can fight back," Blake argued. Yang seemed to finally get angry at her, but instead of doing anything herself she just snapped her fingers.

Blake quirked a brow at her before suddenly jumping back in surprise as Neo appeared before her. Neo smirked and flicked her in the forehead.

"Ow! What was that for?" Blake complained. Neo just kept her smile and did it again. Blake hissed.

"Stop it!" she shouted this time. Neo just wagged her finger and continued to flick the faunus. Blake tried to push her away but the small girl barely moved. Neo stopped and just shook her head disappointedly.

"Case and point," Yang stated.

"This doesn't prove anything!" Blake stood her position stubbornly. Yang and Neo looked to one another before nodding. Blake started to back away when the two stepped forward.

"Get away from me!" she shouted. They only moved closer.

"I swear, if you touch me I'll—" she didn't finish as Neo tackled her and Yang followed after. To anyone looking through the open door, they'd see what appeared to be a very aggressive pig pile.

"Grab her arms!" Yang shouted as Blake scratched at her eyes. Neo was currently wincing as the faunus dug her elbow into her kidney.

Somebody would surely get the wrong idea if they were to walk in on them at this very moment. As it happened, Oobleck rounded the corner to grab something he had forgotten in his office only to see the three girls wrestling.

"Ladies while I understand we are at a combat school please make an effort to keep spars in the training halls," he said, not at all surprised by the scene. After all, he had seen students fight each other for worse reasons. Hell, he'd even seen teachers fight for worse reasons! Just the other day he watched Roman and Peter fist fight for a beer!

"Oh! Uh, hey Doc! We were just— OW! Oh you little rat!" Yang growled as Blake had managed a blow to her boob. Oobleck just sighed.

"Ladies, whatever the altercation was I'm sure it can be handled with words," Neo raised an eyebrow, "okay, correction. By communicating through means other than physical violence."

The three all halted. Here they were, grappling on the professors floor while the same professor watched and advised them.

"Uh, maybe you're right," Yang said sheepishly.

"Not to be obnoxious Ms Xiao Long, but I normally am," the three girls groaned at the man's claim. That was absolutely obnoxious.

"Now, why don't you all try discussing this with words? Surely negotiations didn't end _that _fast?" the doctor questioned. Neo signed a quick 'perhaps' and the man sighed.

Yes, Oobleck was a man of many fields. History, combat, politics, archeology, geology, and in this case, language. Upon hearing he'd have a completely mute student, he was ecstatic to flex his language arts wings.

"Now now Ms. Politan, I know Roman would... at least attempt to try using his words again," the professor stated. Neo rolled her eyes and he couldn't help but feel it was deserved.

Roman was many things. A charming and quick witted speaker? Definitely. A calm negotiator? Well, nobody was good at everything.

"They're trying to stop me from doing the right thing!" Blake got out before Neo clamped a hand over her mouth. Oobleck let out a short breath at their antics. Ah, youth.

"The White Fang I presume?" he guessed, Blake looking shocked. He chuckled at her expression.

"Ms. Belladonna, while I respect all my students this sounds in line with the trouble you and your teams have been getting into lately. Need I remind you that as your teachers we're all informed of what students have done what in the city?" he droned. Yang and Blake winced at that while Neo seemed to stand a little taller. She was happy to cause wanton destruction, no matter what the reason!

"Your will is strong, if nothing else," he stated, "but you must refrain from dragging others down with you."

"But I can do this myself!" the faunus tried.

"You and what army!?" Yang shouted back. Before the two girls could start arguing again Oobleck intervened.

"Ms. Xiao Long is correct," he agreed, much to Blake's chagrin, "skilled you may be, but to attempt taking down an entire organization by yourself? We may send students into danger, but we don't send them on suicide missions."

"But I—" Blake was cut off by the doctor holding up a hand.

"Mean well and know better. I understand your drive to do well by and for others of your race, but becoming a martyr isn't the way. Think of your family, and if not them, your team at the very least," the man consoled. He started towards the door.

"Make the right choice Ms. Belladonna. It may not always be one you're okay with, but it will be one that makes things easier," and with that the man rounded the corner, shouting a quick 'close my door!' before they heard his rapid footsteps.

"Come on Neo, let her think for a bit," Yang grumbled. She wanted to tell at the girl to listen, but that wouldn't help and Yang was no idiot. Neo shrugged and skipped away, the blonde following shortly after.

Blake stayed alone in the room in silence. She was thinking of her friends, of her _team. _Was she really willing to give up her first semblance of a normal life for the White Fang?

She sighed and turned to leave, but as she did she bumped into somebody. She shook her head, realizing that she really was suffering from her search. As she looked up to apologise, she was shocked to see that there was nobody around. She looked left and right but saw nobody. The sun was setting and heavy shadows we're being cast throughout the Halls of Beacon. She groaned and yawned.

Maybe she would get some sleep. She'd think about this later. She walked back towards her team's room, intending on talking to Yang again when she got the chance.

As she rubbed her eyes, she missed the shadow of a girl move away. Said person glared after the Raven haired girl with an expression of both rage and sadness. She quickly disappeared into the shadows again as she heard more students coming.

Her time would come soon enough.

"Area scouted," Ilia whispered into her scroll. Emerald sent an affirmative back and the line went quiet.

* * *

"There's no way I'm going to some dance. I've only been here like a week!" Mercury shouted at the twins who had been trying to force the boy into a tux for the last hour.

"Listen bitch! We don't get the chance to look pretty without looking slutty! Part of the job," Miltia mumbled the last part.

"Yeah, so like, get your tight metal ass in the tux already!" Melanie followed. The assassin sighed. How did things get this way?

"Neooooo, help me," he whined to the team leader. She looked up from her book. She'd stolen it from RWBY's room and had to say; Blake was into some _weird _stuff. Neo was a little afraid to get touched by the girls weapon now. What had it been used for other than combat!?

At any rate, Neo smiled sweetly at the boy giving him an ounce of hope. It was crushed mercilessly, stuffed in a sack and tossed off a bridge into a river when Neo immediately dropped the smile and went back to reading.

"GET IN THE DAMN TUX!"

"NEVER!"

"LOOK GOOD FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!"

"I ALREADY LOOK GOOD!"

Neo finally slammed her book shut before jumping all three of her new teammates. They all shouted as she pounced and the room dissolved into shouting and the sound of personal belongings breaking.

There was a knock at the door, which, rather than opening, fell over after having been used to try bludgeoning another person. Team RWBY stood on the other side and team MMMN froze.

Currently, Mercury was in his boxers as Melanie tried to force a pair of dress pants on the boy. Neo had Miltia in a headlock and was trying to choke the girl by cram the book in her mouth.

"Is that my—" Blake trailed off for a moment, "teammate Weiss's book?" she finished.

"What!?" Weiss stomped her foot as she screeched.

"Mah mah," Miltia spoke through the book still being held in her mouth, "Weith, I naha tha you'd be intah suh a thin!"

She glared up at Neo before jabbing the girl in the side with her fingers. Neo flinched at the unexpected move and let go of the book. Miltia stretched her jaw after having it in such an awkward position for so long.

"Don't look at me! It's Blake's porn!" the heiress shouted, Blake dropped into an alert stance and looked affronted by the notion.

"It's not porn! MINE! I MEAN IT'S NOT MINE!" Blake corrected. Her team just sighed. She'd be confident about it one day.

"So like— OW that was my boob you rat bastard!" Melanie glared down at the still half clothes boy. He stuck his tongue out in return before it was wiped off his face by a slap.

"As I was saying, what are you all here for? Last I checked we didn't do anything illegal yet," she blatantly claimed. Team MMMN was truly unashamed of their criminal lives. Yang stepped forward.

"Well now that Blake is done being a mopey bitch," that received a 'hey!' from Blake followed by a 'well she's not wrong' from Ruby, "we were trying to discuss something."

"_Please _don't ask them if they wanna go dress shopping," Mercury groaned. That earned him another slap.

"Great idea we'll be sure to bring you along for it," Yang replied easily, "but we're here for something else."

"If you want us for _that _it'll cost you extra, Mil and I don't do groups unless it's worth it," Melanie said as she checked her nails.

"W-what!?" Weiss shouted. Ruby looked like she was going to ask the same but Yang covered her mouth and shook her head.

"Oh was that not what you meant by something else?" the twin asked as Miltia rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Melanie, what the hell?" she asked her sister.

"I thought that's what they meant! Is that not what you were thinking!?"

"No! Why would I think that!?"

"Oh come on! With hands like that I'm sure Blondie knows a thing or two about fist—"

"OH GOD PLEASE STOP!" Weiss shouted. The heiress was bright red, from rage or embarrassment, it was hard to tell. Blake looked equally disturbed and embarrassed, and even Yang had some color to her face. Neo was trying not to laugh and Mercury had tried and failed and was currently rolling on the floor.

"Wait what do they mean?" Ruby asked, still confused.

"NOTHING!" her team shouted as one. Neo had lost composure now and was laughing on the floor with Mercury. Ruby never changed did she?

"W-what we were going to ask was about Mountain Glenn," Blake managed. Neo looked up and stopped laughing at that. She looked to Yang and raised an eyebrow. The blonde shrugged.

"We talked about it," she said simply. Neo just shook her head.

"What do want to know? There ain't much I can do other than tell you what they're planning," Mercury stated. Blake eyed him wearily.

"We want to know why they're doing it. What their end goal is," Blake said staring the assassin down. He made a face at her demand.

"I don't think I should tell you guys that," he said, earning a round of suspicious looks. He held his hands up before speaking again.

"Not because I don't want to or anything, but because I think that'd cause a lot more harm than good. There are some things that aren't for the faint of heart," he tried to placate them. They all look amongst each other before looking back.

"Lay it on us," Ruby said with a steely look. He looked to Neo who looked a little curious herself, though he knew she knew about the maidens, he wasn't sure how much more she was told. He sighed and rubbed his temples. He couldn't tell them about the maidens, they wouldn't believe him if he did. Not that he could blame them.

"I feel like I'm gonna regret this," he groaned. He took a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Cinder, my old boss, wants... something from Beacon. She's pretty adamant about getting it too," he said.

"How adamant?" Weiss asked.

"Adamant enough to carve through the whole city if need be," he stated looking away. He didn't need to see them, the quiet gasps and breaths being stopped and held was enough to know they got the point.

"And... she's using the White Fang to get it?" Blake asked with a forlorn look.

"Emphasis on using. As long as she gets what she's after, everyone else can burn with the kingdom," he added. They all winced at that.

"What the fuck did we sign up for?" Miltia asked. Melanie sighed and shook her head.

"Of course there's some megalomaniac bitch trying to steal from the most ritzy school on Remnant! It's like a shitty show with equally shitty writing and unexplored, poorly introduced characters!" Melanie proclaimed. The rest gave her a look before turning back to the assassin.

"What does she want?" Ruby asked. He winced internally. Subtly, he looked to Neo who shook her head at him. Point made, don't say anything.

"Dunno. Apparently I wasn't that important to her plans. Kinda proves my point I guess," in a way, he wasn't lying. Cinder hadn't made any attempt to rescue him so he assumed she was finding alternatives.

"That... lines up I suppose," Weiss said, still glaring at him. The way she searched him for any sign of a lie told of her business instincts. Luckily, he was pretty good at lying. Works of the trade and whatnot. Roman would be proud.

"Then that's all the more reason we need to get to Mountain Glenn," Ruby stated with finality. He almost choked at her proposal.

Roman would not be too happy with that.

"Didn't you hear Torchwick? They've got it covered, leave it to the professionals!" he tried to dissuade them. If they somehow got it in their heads that they could save the day with just the four of them and maybe another team and 'power of friendship' then they had another thing coming!

"Yeah, but have you seen us? We're kinda the shit!" Yang stated, flexing an arm. Weiss sighed, Ruby laughed, and Blake rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, against grimm with poor motor skills and other people your age. We're talking about an entire terrorist organization, who knows how many powerful, crazy extremists, and a ma—" he froze, and Neo looked at him in shock.

"—jor disadvantage in numbers," he finished lamely.

"Yeah, but we can't just do nothing!" Ruby argued. Yes they could! They could absolutely do nothing! They were in the _perfect _position to do nothing!

"Yeah, haven't you ever just felt like you needed to be the one fighting?" Yang asked. He was about to tell them no and how stupid a mindset that was when he was interrupted by a random memory.

He sat on the side of a diet road, the house he was born and raised in burning to the ground in the middle of the night. He sat because his legs didn't work anymore and he had just pushed himself to his limits. A few feet behind him, the body of the man he once called his dad lay still and bruised. He had fought before, and he had done it by himself.

"Yeah. I have. And I know that feeling you have now," he started, "but if you go through with it there's a chance you'll lose more than you have to offer."

"Speaking from experience?" Melanie asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," he replied as though nothing happened, "but I'm still staying firm that you guys should leave it to the professionals."

"But that means possibly leaving it to Torchwick!" Blake whined. Neo raised an eyebrow at her and she had the decency to at least _look _sorry.

"Well you can't stop us! We're unstoppable! TEAM RWBY IS UNSTOPPABLE!" Ruby shouted before she dashed away. Weiss sighed and followed a bemused Blake trailing after the heiress. Yang looked back to all the criminals and shrugged.

"Sorry, I guess we're unstoppable now!" she claimed before dashing off as well.

"They're _so _gonna get themselves killed," Miltia stated as she checked her nails. Melanie nodded.

"Well, at least they won't bother us if they do— ow! You little shit!" Mercury was cut off by a book being thrown at his temple.

Neo sat and looked away, whistling even though no sound actually came out. That sparked the earlier debate.

"Are you gonna wear these or not!?"

"NEVER!"

And then they were right back to square one.

* * *

The Beacon dance was... interesting. Neo wasn't really a "dance" kind of person. She was more of a "steal your stuff and maybe your life" kind of girl. Luckily, she wasn't the only one out of place here.

"Stupid Yang and her stupid dresses and her stupid heels! Who even wears heels!?" Ruby asked as she fidgeted in place. Neo just stared at her.

"Oh right, heh heh, sorry?" she apologized. Neo smiled and shook her head. This girl was beyond awkward. Thank the brothers that Ruby had her here to be her social interaction teacher.

Neo bumped Ruby's shoulder and pointed to the floor. It was currently full of students, some who could dance, others who could not, and then there was team JNPR.

Damn, it was hard to dance and not look bad after seeing those four go at it. When did they even choreograph an entire dance number!? It was the end of the semester! They all just had like four finals!

Well, Roman didn't give them a final per say, but he gave them something that he graded them on.

If one could call being silent or leaving while he slept off a hangover a final. Neo passed that one with flying colors!

Ruby looked unsure at the mute girls gesture.

"You want me to dance? I can't dance! The only dancing I can do is with steel!" Ruby proclaimed, earning a few looks from nearby transfer students. Neo shook her head. Only one way to do this one.

Ruby was about to dig her feet in more but was suddenly grabbed by the arm and swept away.

"Wh-what!? Neo what are you doing!?" the young reaper shouted as she was dragged to the middle of the dance floor. Yang spotted them and winked at the two. Ruby blushed, stammered, and tried calling her sister for help. Neo winked back.

"Neo! I can barely stand in these heels, what makes you think I can dance!?" Ruby whined. Neo just shushed her and grabbed her hands. The song was faster right now, which meant you didn't actually have to know how to dance, you just had to move a lot.

Neo wasn't a dancer by any means either, but she was a lot better at cutting lose than the young Rose was. Neo just grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and started moving her to the rhythm manually.

"Is... is this really how you dance?" she asked. Neo held her scroll close enough to the young girls ear so that the voice wasn't blocked by the music.

_Not even close Red, _it sounded. Neo smirked at her and released her shoulders. Ruby was still moving so Neo moved with her.

"This... isn't that bad I guess," Ruby said as they bobbed together. From across the crowd, the twins were trying to get a dance out of a certain silver haired assassin.

"No way ladies. You can't keep up with me," he claimed as he looked out the window. The two huffed.

"Oh _please _twinkle toes! We work at the most premiere club in the kingdom! We can dance you out of house and home!" Miltia shot back.

"Yeah, try us stumpy," Melanie followed. Mercury groaned at the nickname.

"Fine! I'll show you two powers what _real _dancer can do!" he claimed loudly, drawing the eyes of those around them.

"Try us!" they yelled back.

"Well those three look like they're enjoying themselves," Ruby intoned. Neo smirked and pushed her arm playfully. As the two watched them argue, Ruby noticed something faintly outside the window.

"Neo, do you see that?" she asked the shorter girl. Neo looked, years of prowling around in the night with Roman for the next big job allowing her to attune her eyes to the dark well. Not as well as a faunus might be able to, but we'll enough to fight in a blackout if necessary.

She did in fact see something. It looked distinctly... humanoid. Neo narrowed her eyes. She looked to Ruby, who nodded back. Who would just be running around outside right now?

The two weaved their way through the crowds of teens. Some people were there with friends, others looked like they were trying to get lucky with their date, but the important thing was that nobody on either of their teams seemed to notice the two sneak out. Well, almost nobody.

Off to the side, Roman and Glynda stood in conversation. Ironwood and Ozpin had to show up later due to business coming up that required both headmasters attention.

Roman was about to add to something Glynda said when he noticed two very short and familiar figures leaving through the front door.

He narrowed his eyes, he wasn't one to get suspicious easily, but one didn't get to the top of the criminal world by ignoring gut instincts. Either Neo was deciding to get adventurous with Red, and a little creepy given the age difference, or something was up outside.

"Glyn, I'm sorry but I'll have to excuse myself for a moment. A little, uh, shall we say... parental business to attend to," he excused. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Roman, I'm not blind. I watched Ms Rose and Politan leave the hall just as you did. Bart and Peter are here, they can make sure none of the students to anything untoward while we investigate," she claimed, already taking the lead on following the two students. He laughed and followed after.

* * *

"Ugh, I'm taking these off!" Ruby whisper shouted as she flung her heels into a bush. Yang would be pissed but she could deal with that later.

Neo chuckled at the young girls antics. Ruby had worn a dark red dress that was almost just a slightly more formal version of her normal outfit. It was a lot poofier at the bottom though, and she had done away with the combat boots at the adherence of her sister.

"I still don't understand how you all fight in those things," the young reaper grumbled looking Neo up and down. Neo took notice, since she stuck her hip out and struck a pose for the young girl. Ruby's face colored a little and she quickly turned to keep going.

Neo _did_ cut quite the figure right now after all so she couldn't blame the young girl. For all that Neo lacked in height she made up for with her figure. She wore a multi-colored, sequin dress that reached her ankles. It started a light pink at the top and blend down into a creamy white before blending once more into a rich brown. It hung on one shoulder, leaving her other bare and was loose at the bottom. Her heels were also pink and she had her hair up in a ponytail.

Overall... it was probably a bad idea to try fighting in this, but she had shorts on underneath. Sadly, due to the dress itself, Neo had forgone a bra which she was beginning to regret if they were to have to fight.

That likelihood went up as they rounded the corner and saw several unconscious Atlesian soldiers lazily hidden in a bush.

"That's... definitely bad," Ruby pointed out. Neo gave the girl a 'no duh' look before continuing onwards. Before them stood the CCT, and if the guards outside had been dismantled, that didn't spell out good things for the kingdom.

The two called their lockers and equipped themselves. Ruby lead the way with Crescent Rose at the ready. Neo had Hush at her side and was ready to disappear if the situation called for it.

The two noticed the elevator just coming down, and the doors opened. The two readied themselves for... nobody.

"If nobody was coming down... then that means somebody just went up, right?" Ruby asked. Neo shrugged and the two went up to the main control center at the top of the tower. If someone was mounting an attack on the CCT, the best place to strike was the comms center.

Meanwhile, just coming up to the tower, Roman and Glynda watched the two take the elevator up.

"What are those two doing? There's nobody in the CCT at this time," Glynda stated. Roman watched the numbers above the elevator go higher and higher.

"Well if we wanna catch up, we either have to book it up the stairs or wait for the elevator to come all the way back down again," he groaned turning to the other teacher. She sighed and turned to the door to the stairs.

"Last one up buys dinner next time."

"Deal!"

And like that the two were bolting up the stairs.

* * *

Ruby and Neo were currently waiting in the elevator. Ruby checked her scroll. They'd been waiting for... six minutes now.

"Ugh, we should've taken the stairs," Ruby groaned. At least she could run faster than the elevator!

If the two listened closely they would've heard what sounded like a full grown man fall down seven flights of stairs.

Neo shook her head and pointed to herself. She took out her scroll.

_You think I have the patience for that!? _Neo had an exasperated look as well. Ruby gestured to the elevator they were in.

"Like this is going any faster!" she complained. The two short girls huffed and stood in silence. The comms center was on the twenty fifth floor. They were currently on floor eleven. There was a shocking lack of conversation and Neo was beginning to get restless. She decided to play her favorite game; make other people uncomfortable.

_So, wanna make out? _Her scroll sounded causing the other girl to sputter and flail her arms around as she backed away.

"WHAT!?" Ruby screeched, causing Neo to giggle. Neo shuffled a little closer.

_Come on Ruby, we've got time to kill, _Neo continued, now right in front of the young girl. She quickly looked up. Thirteenth floor.

"Uh, I'm not— or well, it's just— you can uh," Ruby was completely out of her element. Sure she looked up (technically down) to Neo in a lot of ways, but she didn't want kisses! She wanted fights and weapons!

Before she could say anything else— not that she was saying much before— Neo was right in her face.

With a cheshire grin, Neo leaned her face close to Ruby's until their noses were practically touching.

"Uhhh," Ruby was as red as her namesake by this point. Neo decided to just finish already, in case there actually was a fight, she'd rather not make Ruby falter and hurt herself. Then again...

Ruby was about to say something, anything really, to try and dissuade Neo when she stopped and stood stalk still. Neo leaned back with a satisfied smile and turned back to the elevator door, bobbing back and forth on her heels.

Ruby meanwhile was still frozen. As quick as it was, Neo had in fact given the young reaper a small peck on the lips. Ruby looked like she may pass out and Neo turned to look at her over her shoulder. She winked for good measure.

"Ehhh," Ruby's eyes rolled back and she drifted to the floor. Neo's eyes widened and get smile went away. That wasn't good. She turned to the digital display. Twentieth floor.

Shit.

She tried the shake the girl awake but to no avail. It was only a peck! How'd she manage to overload the girl with something so miniscule!? She thought of ways to wake her up. Had she access to running water she'd splash the girl.

How the hell was she supposed to wake the girl up!?

A sudden ding sounded the end of their elevator ride. Neo started to panic. She could fight fine, but she'd also have to protect an unconscious Ruby if there was troubled.

She stepped back and accidentally stepped on Crescent Rose, which must've been near the trigger since a shot sounded off and right through the open elevator doors.

"OW! SHIT!" a feminine voice shouted from the dark room. Neo was prepared to fight alone when a red blur shot past her and out of the elevator.

"WHO STEPPED ON MY BABY!?" Ruby roared as she stood with her weapon in hand, somehow waving it around threateningly and coddling it like a wounded child at the same time.

When her eyes met Neo's, the mute girl simply pointed to the two dark figures. Ruby's head whipped around to meet their invaders.

"Wait, what—" the person was cut off as a sniper round impacted her forehead. A minty green aura was the only thing that kept that from being fatal.

"OW! SHIT THAT HURTS!" the voice shouted.

"See what I mean!?" the other figure complained. This one literally looked _dark. _As in, she looked like she was just a silhouette. Neo had to squint to actually make the person out. It was hard to tell if they were moving or not, and even then the only thing that gave away any sign of a person was the moonlight glinting off of something they were holding.

Neo's instincts ran wild and she threw herself to the ground. Just in time as the needle point of what looked like a really long rapier soared above her head. It retracted back like the tongue of a lizard and Neo was back to watching the light reflect off the intruders weapon.

Ruby meanwhile had received return fire from the other suspect. A hail of bullets spread across the room as Ruby ducked and weaved. Who'd have thought that she'd move even more nimble without shoes?

Ruby dashed in to attack, but two chains enclosed on her and nearly snagged her baby out of her hands. She stopped running and dropped, sliding across the smooth tile floor towards the assailant. They seemed to be having as difficult a time as her seeing in the dark. Ruby needed to think fast, what should she do? She was coming in fast now, her previous momentum carrying her across the floor in a straight line towards her attacker.

She couldn't deploy Crescent Rose now since it'd be too awkward to hold it at her angle. Likewise she couldn't try and take a shot for a similar reason.

Instead she decided to take a leaf out of Neo's book.

"Hurk..." Neo looked across the wide room at the other attacker, knees knocked together and hunched over and Ruby sliding past them with a foot outstretched. Neo let a single tear of pride fall.

It was short lived as she immediately had to continue dodging.

It was obvious her attacker was a faunus of some kind. Neo's own eyesight was anything but poor, but this person was able to detect her wherever she was, so their eyesight must've been much better in the dark. Which really only meant that her faunus opponent had a leg up that she or Ruby didn't have.

Thinking fast, Neo disappeared with an illusion and heard the shatter soon after.

"What the hell!?" the faunus shouted, looking around the room. Neo took her chance when the attacker made a one-eighty to look behind herself.

Neo jumped on a computer terminal, and then vaulted into the air. The intruder heard it because she whipped around to try and snag Neo out of her attack. Neo turned her leap into a flip as she swung Hush around to intercept the whip. Neo was about to pull back to disarm her opponent, but a new sensation put a halt to that.

Flying past the faunus and crashing through a desk, Neo felt the tingles of electricity running through her. She wasn't expecting the jolt and so she hadn't prepared herself for it. She stood on shaky legs and cast another illusion which quickly shattered.

This was turning out to be a bitch and a half.

Ruby was doing a little better than Neo was right now. While she couldn't really see well in the dark, it didn't seem like her opponent could see all that well either, and a lot of her shots went long.

That, and a lot of them were being shot in anger, which usually resulted in a lack of aim.

"WHO KICKS THEIR OPPONENT IN THE GROIN!?" she screamed as she shot wildly in the young reapers direction. In her defense, it was that or try and cut the girl in half, which Ruby really _didn't _want to do.

Ruby dashed in and leapt. From above she could deploy her baby to its full glory!

Ruby spun in the air and whipped Crescent Rose around from her left with one hand. The invader got caught in the sickle end and went flying into the large window. Nobody notices the small crack that appeared.

Ruby was suddenly on the defense when the same chains as before wrapped around her ankles. She was forced off her feet but held on to her weapon. As she was suddenly yanked into the air by the force of the attackers pull, she shifted into sniper mode.

When she was finally about to come into contact with her attacker, she planted her feet on what felt like their chest and aimed down the length of her body and between her legs.

"Goddamnit—" the intruder was cut off by the impact of the bullet and Ruby went flying into backwards.

Neo was dancing again, though not in the casual way. She was currently trapped in a flurry of steel with her own attacker and she was growing a little bored.

While her opponent could see her, it was clear she wasn't as skilled as Neo, who was relying more on instinct than anything right now. The initial electric charge had caught her by surprise, but other than that the faunus had a fairly standard style.

Neo was currently dancing, standing on one leg at a time and sliding under the faunus as they fought. Neo had enough and went for the kill. She quickly stepped forward and turned, doing a quick shoulder check to the other girl. Having not expected the sudden closeness, she was caught off guard. Neo then grabbed the girls shoulders and pushed down, throwing herself above the faunus.

Neo then came back down and slammed her sword across the girls face, sending her flying into the other attacker and back into the window from before.

Neo stood next to Ruby, with Neo crouched and poised to strike and Ruby aiming over her directly behind and nearly flush with the other girl.

Just as they were about to apprehend the two, the door burst open.

"Y-you, hah, owe me, oh dear lord, dinner," the panting form of Glynda Goodwitch gasped as she stood hunched and heaving breaths.

Roman stumbled out the door soon after, before toppling onto the deputy, bring both down to the floor. It was quite a sight too, as they were both dressed formally. It was the same outfits from their dates, though Roman had a purple bowtie now to match the headmistress's dress.

"Don't— oh my god I'm gonna fucking die— don't worry girls, the professionals are here!" Roman wheezed from the floor.

"Uh, did you two _run _up here?" one of the intruders asked.

"We don't owe you answers," Glynda growled, still on the floor with the other adults in the room.

The two intruders turned to one another before simultaneously elbowing the cracked window, shattering it. They both leapt out the wind and used their weapons to snag a roof on the way down before retreating into the night.

"You two just let them get away!" Ruby whined, "now we have to go back down and let the headmaster know!"

"Go... back down?" Roman squeaked. Glynda just groaned and rolled over onto the man. The two passed out then and there.

"Aaand now they're asleep," Ruby stated, the two unconscious professors totally knocked out. Who knew, a hunters greatest enemy was stairs.

Neo starred in disgust before looking out the window and in the direction the two had run. Why had they been up here? And what'd they do before they'd shown up?

"What were they trying to do?" Ruby voiced, Neo thankful she wasn't the only one. This had Cinder written all over it, and that only spelled bad times to come.

"I guess... we should get them downstairs and tell Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood what happened," Ruby stated. Neo least out a silent groan. She and Ruby walked over and the two rolled them into the elevator.

"You think anyone noticed we were gone?" Ruby asked. Neo shook her head and gave the girl a relaxed look. Ruby hummed. She was right, who would've noticed they were gone?

* * *

She really wished nobody had noticed they were gone.

When they had got back and informed the headmasters what had happened, they were told to leave it to them and get the two unconscious professors back to their rooms. Neo was able to get Roman's room open, but since they had no way to get Goodwitch's open, they just put her with him in his bed. They'd be fine.

Meanwhile, it was late and the two didn't feel like going back to the dance. Instead they had just gone to the cafeteria and stolen cookies and ice cream. It was fun, and Ruby much preferred it to some stupid dance!

But then when they got back to her dorm, her team was waiting for her, and they didn't look too happy.

"Uh, is this about us leaving, or the heels?" Ruby asked sheepishly.

"It was about you leaving, but now I'm curious about the heels and why they aren't on your feet," Yang growled. Uh oh, she was in overprotective sister mode.

Neo gave Ruby an encouraging Pat on the shoulder, before she shattered and was gone.

"Uh, it's not what you think?" Ruby laughed nervously. Weiss groaned and slapped her forehead.

"Ruby, _please _tell me you weren't the reason a window in the CCT shattered an hour ago. If rather hear that you did something juvenile or delinquent like!" Yang said, grabbing her shoulders.

Ruby had to think! Anything to mitigate their anger at her sneaking off to fight random invaders in the middle of the dance! Who could she put the blame on?

"Uh... Well, Neo kissed me?" she said tentatively. Yang went still.

"We'll talk about this in the morning."

"What!? But you told me not to run away and fight people and we're just letting—" Blake didn't get to finish since Yang was bolting down the hallway towards team MMMN's room.

"Well that ends that! Goodnight!" Ruby said before dashing into the bathroom to change. The other two groaned.

Neo meanwhile was walking back to her room when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned slowly to see the face of Yang Xiao Long. Neo shivered. It wasn't Yang's red eyes that scared her.

It was her smile.

It was so artificial and forced that it looked like she might chip a tooth.

"So Neo! I heard you kissed my baby sister!" she started. Neo wanted to type into her scroll and tell her that it was a joke but for one, that wouldn't come out the way she'd want it to, and for two, she couldn't move her arms as they were now both in a vice grip.

She gave Yang a small smile and tried to laugh it off.

That didn't work.

"Let's chat for a while, okay?" Yang said sweetly. Too sweetly. The kind of sweet that would get stuck in your throat and choke you.

_Well shit, _was all Neo could think before she was hoisted over the blondes shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried away.

Maybe she would be proud?

A girl could dream.

* * *

"Hey Neo, where'd you go last ni—woah that's... an interesting look," Mercury stated. The twins looked as well, before gasping and covering their mouths. Neo sent them a death glare, daring them to say something.

"You... wanna talk about it?" the assassin asked. He got his own glare for that.

Currently, Neo was very scorched. She didn't seem too hurt, but it looked like she had stood next to a bomb as it went off.

She stomped to the bathroom and slammed the door. The shower running was heard next.

"Maybe she got lucky?" he proposed. The twins giggled. He rolled his eyes. It was late. Well, early if you're annoying, but it was two in the morning regardless.

"Night ladies, I need my beauty sleep," he quipped before laying back in his bed.

"Ugh, yeah right! You're just tired from getting your metal ass served by us tonight!" Miltia stated. Melanie appeared beside her and the two bumped hips and high fived.

"Oh please, they were eating me up out there," he claimed confidently.

"Ha! In your dreams! We were the real stars!" Melanie shouted.

The three were about to argue more but a series of knocks from the bathroom signified Neo's growing rage at their annoying chatter.

"Don't be mad because you got blue balled!" Miltia shouted back. Without any warning, the door was flung open, shower still running and Neo clearly having jumped out to kick the door down. She jumped at the girl in a flurry of claws and punches.

"Ahh! She's still soapy! It's adding a surprising amount of discomfort to this!" she yelled from the floor.

Melanie was recording it for blackmail material later on. It wasn't every day you could get something that worked for Miltia _and _Neo. Mercury was looking away since he at least had the decency not to look at the naked and violently hostile form of Neo assaulting the prissy girl.

"Night ladies," he said simply and with a smirk. At least these three were more fun than Cinder and Emerald.

"Huh, I forgot about the infiltration. Wonder if they went through with it," he mumbled idly before drifting off.

* * *

Glynda woke up to a very warm bed. Strange, she didn't remember her bed being so comfortable. She tried to roll over but met resistance.

That was definitely strange. She tried cracking her eyes open but the sun was too bright. She groaned and covered them with an arm. Last night went poorly, having run up twenty-plus flights of stairs. Long flights too. And the staircase was too narrow for her to have used her semblance to just fly up so she had no option. She'd talk to Ozpin about expanding them just in case. By this point it was a hazard as much as it was annoying!

A groan next to her signified that she wasn't as alone in her bed as she once thought. So she did what her instincts told her.

"Oof! Ow, seriously Glyn? That was just uncalled for," a whiney voice groaned. She felt herself breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good morning Roman."

"Morning Glyn."

Then it was silent for a little bit.

"We didn't—"

"No," she cut him off.

"Okay."

More silence.

"And today is...?"

"Saturday."

"Okay," he stated.

The silence was getting to be a little much.

"Do you wanna...?"

She was quiet for a while, leading him to believe it was a no. She reached over him and found her scroll to check the time. It was after noon. When was the last time she'd slept in so late?

Well, seeing as it was the weekend anyway...

She sighed.

Then she threw away her glasses and tore off her shawl.

"Fuck it," she groaned before pulling the blankets over them.

Neo would later tell the others about a strange feeling of disgust she felt in the middle of the afternoon.

* * *

**And scene!**

_**Sexy scene.**_

**But enough about that? Don't expect a scene from me, I'm not an erotic writer.**

**I had to decide whether I wanted to start the last episode arc now or next chapter and I decided it'd be a little... cramped if I put Mountain Glenn and the breach in the same chapter as the dance.**

**But hey, frisky Neo and lucky Roman right?**

**I'll try and get the next part up as soon as I can, but for now have a lovely time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: The Nevermores and the Rapier Wasps**

Neo was very unhappy.

Perhaps because Yang had quite literally exploded and tried to brutalize her last night. Seriously, who'd think she'd try and sleep with Ruby!? The girl was fifteen!

Not that she wasn't cute, but Neo had morals!

Well, morals with age.

And sure, they had more in common than any of the other teammates.

And Neo wasn't _against _the idea of being with another woman.

And she kinda had a thing for goths.

Huh.

_Shit, _Neo thought.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello hello! College is still kicking my ass but it's all good because I've got **_**style!**_

**Well, subjectively at least.**

**I'm glad you're all liking the story, and I appreciate your reviews! I'll say more at the bottom so enough of this!**

* * *

Bored.

Neo was really, really bored.

Ozpin just gave them all some speech about togetherness and all that sickening garbage to make it seem like he totally wasn't biased towards having any of his students do well in the tournament.

Which was not hidden too well as he kept directing his gaze at Ironwood whenever he said something about peace and perseverance.

Well, the two men could war it out on their own.

Now they all had to pick missions, and there was an unforeseen issue that had come up. While Neo was expecting an easy time getting an assignment working with Roman, she hadn't accounted for the possibility that she wasn't the only one who wanted to.

Evidently, the lackadaisical man had won the hearts of a lot of students if the heard of people around his assignment meant anything.

Luckily most of them seemed to turn away once they got there. Score! When Neo finally made it to the front, dragging the other three criminals with her, she checked up and down the information.

It said it was for upper class students! What a rip! Neo looked around, most students had figured that out and we're clearing out and towards other assignments.

"DIBS!" a voice suddenly shouted before landing in front of Neo.

"Nora, I don't think we can take that one," Ren stated as he and the rest of team JNPR made their way towards the board.

"Awww, why not!?" Nora whined, and while Neo was upset knowing that the girl would try and steal her work away from her she could at least agree that it was pretty annoying.

"Come on Nora, why don't we find an extermination mission or something?" Ren asked as he turned away. As though flipping a switch of destruction, Nora bolted after the boy with the prospect of the hunt fresh in her mind.

"Sorry about that guys," Jaune apologized, before turning with Pyrrha to help Ren reign in the force of nature that was Nora.

"Hey guys, whatcha looking at?" Yang asked from behind them. They all turned to see team RWBY looking over the same board with Roman's assignment.

"Well, Neo here was practically blowing her load at a chance to work with Uncle Roman again, but it's not working out as smoothly as we wanted," Melanie answered as she checked her nails.

"Oh, what's the mission?" Ruby asked. Neo looked away as she scratched her head. The twins sighed.

"She doesn't know," they said in unison before Miltia finished, "She just wanted to work with dear old daddy," she said with a baby tone. Neo swatted at her eyes causing her to yelp.

"Well let's read then, I'm sure you're all capable of that," Weiss said impatiently as she and Blake were the only ones actually looking at the mission request now.

They all scanned the board before the uproar happened.

"Are you serious!?" Blake shouted in confusion and rage.

"As serious as a heart attack," a snide voice answered as Roman and Ozpin strolled up to the board.

"But this says your mounting an investigation for recent Grimm activity!" Blake argued.

"That's kinda what a hunter does meow mix," the thief answered. Blake hissed at him.

"That's not the issue! It says you're investigating Mountain Glenn!" she shouted. He and Ozpin chuckled.

"Yes, that is a place and I am investigating it. Is there any other information on the board that you'd like to read to me? Maybe that I'm going to be accompanied by another teacher or that it's for upper class students?" he asked as he read the information directly.

"Since when do you and Oobleck work together?" Yang asked. Roman blew air out his nose and rolled his eyes.

"You get pretty good at working with others once you graduate from the whole 'I can do everything myself' mindset," he replied.

"Now what seems to be the _actual _problem Ms. Belladonna?" Ozpin queried as he sipped from his mug of what might not actually be coffee. Yang said it was alcohol, Ruby thought it was hot chocolate, and Neo said it was straight up drugs.

"We need to go in this mission,". Lake said immediately. Neo looked affronted by the suggestion.

"No can do, I already picked a team," Roman answered. Blake looked shocked by the sudden refusal. Neo rejoiced for a short moment before she realized what he had said. She turned to him and glare a hole into him.

"Who'd you pick!?" Blake whined. The rest rolled their eyes. This girl and her obsession with the White Fang! Did she have anything else that defined her? The short and correct answer was not really.

"Easy, I picked a group of students that I knew could traverse the terrain easily and stay quiet for more than two minutes. Seriously for a bunch of fighters and combatants you all sure talk a lot. Ever think of taking a creative writing class or doing slam poetry? They'd appreciate it more than the general mass I assure you," Roman drawled. Ozpin shook his head.

"What Mr. Torchwick means to say is that he has an appropriate team already assigned, but worry not, there's room for one more team due to the accompaniment of Dr. Oobleck," Ozpin assuaged, as he watched the students all relax. Well, Neo and Blake relaxed but immediately glared at each other.

"Regardless, team MMMN was who Mr. Torchwick picked," Ozpin answered.

"Damn it Oz, you ruined the surprise!" Roman whined, "I had a whole speech set out and everything!"

Ozpin chuckled at the man and waved back to team RWBY.

"These things often have a way of... fixing themselves," the headmaster said as he input something into his scroll and tapped the board.

"What kind of headmaster would I be if I were to say whether or not this mission is too much for your team to handle?" he asked as he turned and walked away with Roman.

"A very responsible and unbiased one? Pretty much the opposite of yourself right now really," Roman stated as they walked out of the hall.

"Well, that was strange," Yang said obviously.

"I'll say. What did he mean 'fixing themselves'? Nothing was broken!" Weiss proclaimed. The rest nodded. Ozpin was weird. Maybe Neo was right about the drugs.

"Wait, guys! We can register for this now!" Blake exclaimed looking over the board. They checked and indeed, there was now clearance for another first year team.

"Why the hell would Ozpin do that!? It was clearly an upper class mission for a reason!" Mercury asked as Ruby hovered over the board.

"Neo! That means we can work with Torchwick together! It'll be like when we first met!" the young Rose proclaimed. Neo raised a hand to respond but looked over the girls shoulder and into Yang's eyes. Yang's red eyes.

Guess she was still mad about the kiss thing. Oh well, explode on her once shame on her, explode on her twice then it was a feud.

_Just like old times, _her scroll voiced. Ruby smiled and signed up for the quest.

"What about the uh, thing back at our dorm?" Blake asked.

"He has a name Blake!" Ruby rounded on the girl.

"Ladies, let's discuss this later?" Yang sighed.

Weiss still had her reservations about the two huntsmen they were with and it showed on her face.

"Cheer up frosty, Uncle Torchwick is pretty good at his job. Can't say for the other guy but I doubt they hired somebody who couldn't fight," Melanie assuaged the thief.

"Well, at least they're both huntsman. Oobleck and Torchwick aren't always the most professional but I'd like to believe that when it comes to their jobs they can really change," Weiss stated confidently.

* * *

"Okay but hear me out; what if we blow the mountain up and there's a big ass dragon inside!"

"Impossible! I'd bet my doctorate on it!"

"Okay so if there is do I get to be 'Dr. Torchwick'? And if so I want your glasses too, they'll really sell the whole thing."

This had been going on for about fifteen minutes now. Teams RWBY and MMMN had been subjected to watching the two older men argue about whether or not there was an evil dragon hiding in a mountain near Vale.

"I'm just saying, what makes it _im_possible?" Roman questioned.

"Surely we would have seen the results of such an ancient creature begin to take effect on local Grimm by this point! It's just not possible that a dragon Grimm of any kind lives that close to Vale!" Oobleck retorted.

"Okay but I want that doctorate when right."

"I was so very, _very _wrong," Weiss wept as she and the others finally approached the two teachers.

"Ah there you all are! Late, at that!" Oobleck greeted.

"Yeah seriously we've been waiting for you lot for like twenty minutes now," Roman scoffed as her leaned on his cane.

"I—! But you—! WE'VE BEEN HERE FOR— Mmmphgrrrph!" Weiss was muffled by Yang as they loaded into the larger bullhead.

"Alrighty then kiddo and kiddettes! We have work to do!" Roman called as he jumped in the bullhead and sat down. Oobleck followed but stood standing instead.

"Ms. Rose! We have no need of your bag! You may leave it behind!" Ruby froze. She shuffled for a moment before responding.

"Uh, it's that time of the month and these are my supplies?" she said unsurely. As if immediately not wanting to deal with it Oobleck waved her off and turned away. Nice save Ruby!

"Very well, then away we go!" the doctor exclaimed as the bullhead lurched and took off.

"Now ladies and gentleman, what do you know about Mountain Glenn!?" the man screamed over the engines and wind.

"Uh, that it's on a mountain?" Miltia answered. Melanie rolled her eyes and Mercury scoffed.

"That's true, but the history of Mountain Glenn is a tragic one!" he responded, continuing on to give them all a history lesson.

"Oh Brothers please make it stop!" Mercury shouted as he held his ears.

"MR. TORCHWICK, WHY DON'T YOU TELL US A STORY!?" Weiss shouted trying to avoid the lecture.

"Oh, huh. Kinda put me on the spot... I ever tell the one about the Sandwyrms?" he asked from his seat. They all looked confused, Neo included. He laughed.

"This was before we met kiddo. Back when I was in school," he explained. They were all watching him now.

"Well, in Vacuo there are these Grimm called Sandwyrms. Covered in plating and have a mouth that can expand twice the size of an above average man. Teeth are about the size of a small dog and as sharp as a sword. They can get as big as a small skyscraper and they burrow underground. Luckily they don't live anywhere there isn't sand but that still means beaches are a danger," he told. Ruby and Neo looked excited. The twins, Mercury, and Blake looked fairly uninterested. Weiss and Yang were paying attention to him in order to ignore the still talking Oobleck.

"Anyway, when I was in my third year of Shade I had go on wall duty. Thing about Vacuo is that it's a sandy ass town on a sandy ass continent. Walls need to be watched for big threats since anything little dies in the sandstorms," he reminisced.

"I watched one jump out of the dunes and snag a bullhead right out of the sky! Had to have jumped high enough to clear the wall if it wanted! That was one of the reasons I hightailed it outta that asscrack of a kingdom!" he continued.

"Did you fight it?" Ruby asked. Weiss had her own note to add.

"It sounds like the smart thing to do would be to have calmly notified the city guards so as to mount an attack on—"

"I fought it by myself on a bet for sixty lien," he stated bluntly, smiling off in the same wistful way somebody remembering their youth would.

"What!? You fought it _alone!?_" Weiss shrieked.

"And for only sixty lien?" the twins asked.

"Hey, when you live in Vacuo, you run out of things to do pretty quickly and reasons to do 'em even faster. That was one of my more expensive bets actually," he said, putting a finger to his chin while he thought.

"I think the most expensive bet I made was for a hundred lien when I tried to fist fight the ocean," he claimed. They all looked at him like he was insane. Neo never heard any of this! What the hell!?

"Did... didja win?" Mercury asked. They looked at the boy as though he were stupid, which wasn't unfair due to his question. Roman however chuckled and held up a small necklace chain that had a tiny, almost thumb sized bottle.

"Hell yeah I did. I kicked that things ass," he stated proudly as he swirled the bottle of clear liquid.

"Is... is that ocean water?" Ruby asked.

"Nope. This is ocean blood," he corrected, kissing the bottle before stashing it again. They all just stared.

"Aaaanyways," Yang drifted away from the topic, "what are we actually doing at Mountain Glenn?"

"Simple! We'll be exterminating any Grimm we come across and searching for a reason as to why there has been an influx in their numbers in the area!" Oobleck answered. They all looked at each other. If what Mercury said was true, the White Fang activity was drawing the Grimm in. After all, a bunch of angry and oppressed people in one place was a magnet for that kind of thing.

"And... that's it?" Ruby asked.

"What were you expecting Red? A tower sized Grimm with six arms and three heads? As much as I miss Vacuo, I can go with another one of those thank you very much!" Roman huffed as he crossed his arms.

"Wait what? You've actually seen a Grimm like that?" Mercury asked, a skeptical look on his and all the other students faces.

"Well it was either that or some bad Vacuvian Ale, but I saw something and I definitely fought it," he said as he leaned back.

"Have you ever thought that, perhaps, you have a problem?" Weiss asked in exasperation.

"My only problem is how little I get paid to watch a bunch of kids run head first into a firefight," he grumbled. They all looked away at that.

"We're approaching the drop sight now!" Oobleck suddenly cut in. They looked out and saw the wreckage of a large metropolitan area. Buildings had crumbled, the streets looked to be caving in, and scaffolding could be seen peeking out of every corner of the city.

"Welcome to Mountain Glenn, we will land and set up a perimeter as fast as possible. We have a lot of work to do!" Ok leck ordered as he readied himself to drop.

"Go time kiddos! Try not to get yourselves killed wouldja? I don't wanna deal with the paperwork," Roman followed as he stood by the doctor.

Turning and nodding, the two men let themselves fall out of the vehicle.

"Do we just... jump then?" Miltia asked.

"BANZAI!" Yang yelled as she threw herself out the aircraft. Her team followed and leapt.

Neo turned to her team of criminals. She had to remember that they had far more experience in messy and unofficial jobs. She winked and fell out the bullhead backwards, opening her umbrella halfway through her descent and floating down as gentle as a feather.

She touched down and looked up at the ship. After a moment, the twins were flying downwards before using their blades to scrape down the side of the wall they were dropped at. As the two screeched to a halt, they all looked up expectantly for Mercury.

Suddenly, the boy flew out of the bullhead and soared downwards, the others all clearing so as not to be trampled in his descent.

As quickly as he was airborne he had landed, slamming feet first into the concrete and causing a spider web of cracks to erupt around him.

"Showoff," Yang huffed as she crossed her arms. He brushed off his shoulder and pointed finger guns at the blonde with a 'tic tic' and a grin. They all groaned.

Apparently they weren't the only ones who didn't like the act though, as a small pack of beowolves were encroaching now.

"Thank you Mr. Black, now all the Grimm in a forty foot radius know of our location. Jolly good show," Oobleck remarked as they all readied up.

"And how many Grimm do you think that is?" Melanie asked. The man hummed and took a pinch of soil from the ground. He looked at it very closely before dropping it.

"A lot," he stated simply as he knelt down and picked at some grass, "now fight while I collect samples!"

They all groaned and launched into combat, the doctor and the thief hanging back. Oobleck put some soil in a small test tube while Roman enjoyed a cigar.

"Say Bart," he began, "what do you think we're actually doing here?"

"Based on the information that Mr. Black has given us we must make moves against any untoward acts against the kingdom of Vale," he stated as he examined some pebbles.

"Right, but why not just send us? What do we—" he leaned back as a small beowolf flew past him, "have to bring the kids here?"

"Ozpin is a strange man, I cannot claim to understand his every decision. It is likely due to— heads up," both men stepped away from each other as an ursa flew between them. Afterwards they stepped back to their original positions, "as I was saying, it is likely that we would be understaffed for the first year missions if we were both suddenly missing."

"And that's why he gave us two teams to look after," he finished. The doctor nodded. While not the most experienced, they had the advantage of numbers. That, and Beacon students were no slouches.

"Dr. Oobleck! Mr. Torchwick! We finished!" Ruby called. They both walked over to rejoin the two teams.

"Are you smoking on a mission?" Blake asked skeptically.

"Are you questioning your superior officer?" the thief shot back. She scowled and he stuck out his tongue.

"Very good all of you! Now, we will split up! I'll take four of you and Roman will take the other four!" the doctor said as he adjusted his glasses.

Just as they were about to answer, a growl was heard.

"Another beowolf? How'd it go unnoticed?" Oobleck asked as he scanned the area. Ruby looked very nervous however. Then there was another growl.

"That's weird, I don't like, see anything," Melanie said as she looked around too. Now all of them were trying to find the source of the noise.

"Bark!" came the noise that sealed Ruby's fate. As they all turned to look at her, her companion decided to make his debut.

"Bark bark!" a small blackish grey and white corgi yipped from Ruby's shoulder. The girl was pale and frozen, her eyes darting everywhere.

"W-wha—who put you there!?" she asked in her best lying voice. They all stared at her, her team in disappointment, Oobleck in shock, Roman in frustrated confusion, the twins and Neo awwing at the pup, and Mercury blinking in mild surprise.

"Is that a dog?" the assassin asked. The dog turned its head sideways in curiosity.

"Red, I'm all for reckless abandon and whatnot, but who brings a tiny dog on a mission to a ruined city?" Roman asked in disbelief.

"He's house trained?" Ruby tried.

"Oh well that's good since I think I saw about three houses that had been crushed by a skyscraper a few blocks over," he replied. She wilted at that and the man sighed.

"Bart what do make of this?" the thief asked. He received no answer, "Bart?"

"A stellar idea Ms. Rose! Dogs have been hunting with man since the early days of civilization!" the doctor exclaimed as twirled around in a circle with the dog outstretched in his arms.

"Cool! Then everything is okay!" Ruby received a bonk on the head from Weiss afterwards.

"Quite! Now let us find shelter! Roman you lead and I will take up the rear!" Oobleck ordered.

"Okay then nevermind I guess the dog is a go. That's fine, I'm more of a dog person than a cat person anyways," Roman said as he began trekking away.

"That explains your constant C minus in his class Blake," Yang stated as she followed the man.

"Mercury literally sleeps through that class and has a B! I at least try to do something!" Blake complained.

"Ah ah ah! But I do it in style!" he said as they followed the thief.

"Enough whining! You're all gonna attract a goliath at this rate," the crook grumbled.

"You mean like those ones over there?" Miltia asked. They all looked to see a precession of goliaths stomping above the treeline.

"Huh. Yeah like those," he said.

"Are they gonna attack?" Ruby asked.

"Not unless we attack first," Oobleck answered as he observed the creatures march.

"Can we find a place to rest already? I don't even have legs and my feet hurt," Mercury groaned.

"Yeah yeah you little bastard, let's go," and like that the ten plus one dog went to find shelter

* * *

"Well, it's not the shittiest place I've ever slept so I guess it's not too bad."

"Like, where else have you had to sleep?"

"Eh, I've had my fair share of comfy underpasses in my time," Mercury answered as he and the twins set up their sleeping rolls.

_Never underestimate an abandoned building ladies, _Neo's scroll voiced. Team RWBY seemed to be taking it a little less well. Weiss seemed hesitant to even step in the building let alone sleep in it. Yang and Blake seemed more or less resigned at the idea and just went with it, and Ruby was trying to get her dog, which Neo had learned was named Zwei, to sit still while they set up camp.

The day had worn down on them slowly. In their search for shelter they had encountered hordes of Grimm at a time, to the point where Roman stepped in and just started clearing them so they could move again.

"Alright you little ragamuffins, get your shut eye now! We've got more killing to do tomorrow!" Roman commanded as he tested himself against a wall.

"Ugh, how early will that be?" Yang asked.

"Depends. When do you think the sun comes up around here?" he answered with a question.

"Uh, probably around six or so?" the blonde replied.

"Cool, then four," he said flatly before tipping his hat down over his eyes.

"Sonnofabitch," she grumbled under breathe as she lay down on her mat.

"Oh and you lot need to take turns keeping watch. Do it in pairs since there are so many of you," the thief added.

"Well I for one think that—" Ruby turned to see everyone looking at her with their finger on their noses. Her mouth hung open at the betrayal.

"Wha—!" she squeaked as she looked around. Seeing as nobody else would, Neo sighed and stepped forward.

_You owe me Red, _Neo typed as she dragged the hooded girl to an outcropping from the building.

An hour or two passed and Ruby and Neo were very bored. Ruby tried introducing Neo to Zwei, but she didn't account for one thing.

Neo was currently cuddling with the small pup, and Ruby had felt doubly betrayed when the dog leapt from her arms into Neo's. The traitor!

Currently he was occupying all of her watch partners time and attention, leaving Ruby feeling like a third wheel.

_Third wheel to a dog Ruby. You've got a new low, _she thought as she watched the dog nuzzle his head between Neo's cleavage. Fluffy, perverted bastard!

Suddenly there were some footsteps from behind them.

"Will you two, oh three I guess, whatever, keep it down would ya?" Roman groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry Mr. Torchwick! _Somebody _can't seem to keep their paws to themselves!" Ruby said, glaring at the dog. Said dog looked to his owner before promptly curling up in Neo's lap. The girl let out a silent coo of adoration.

"Yeah Neo always wanted a dog but it's kinda hard to keep one when you're on the run all the time," Roman explained. He groaned again. Looked like sleep would evade him for a while.

"Hey Mr. Torchwick?" Ruby started.

"Kid, we're off hours and on a mission right now. And unlike Bart I don't have a degree or anything. Roman is fine in this setting," he interrupted.

"Oh, okay! I wanted to know if you thought about the future at all," she asked randomly. This must've been from Bart's questions that he'd been asking the kids all day. Roman himself had taken team MMMN so they avoided any awkward "what's your purpose" questions.

"Why do ask Red?" he replied.

"Just wondering," she said as she smiled at him. He sighed.

Of course he thought about the future, but recently that had been a little complicated. He knew that his end goal no matter what was to make sure he and Neo got through whatever shit show Cinder had planned. But the easiest way to do that would be to flee the kingdom or leave during any attack the crazy bitch tried attempting. He looked over to Neo.

She was looking at him now. She looked... a little sad. But he looked at her as she was in the moment. Just a minute ago she was the picture of happiness; a dog, a friend, and she was out here seeing the world.

He couldn't really give her any of that by himself. He couldn't give her the same relationships she had and he definitely couldn't take her around the world if they went on the run again.

And then there was Glynda. All the good that she had done by him and the friend he had in her.

Brothers if he turned to crime again and she got ahold of him...

"Ya know Red," he started abruptly, both girls listening intently, albeit for different reasons, "I think I'll be around for a while. Got things I need to do around Vale."

Neo looked at him in shock. He just gave her a look that said 'we'll talk later.'

"So if you're gonna be around for the time being, can you teach me how to do the thing where you fight with your cane and your bare hands at the same time!? I've been thinking about trying to do the same with my baby ever since the attack on the CCT and I think that I can really get the hang of it if someone like you teaches me and—"

"Red," he cut her off.

"Uh, sorry about that!" she squeaked and bowed her head. He rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I can show you a thing or two," he said quietly. Neo giggled lightly at his lack of resistance.

"Awesome!" Ruby whisper yelled. She'd be even more unstoppable!

Suddenly Zwei was whining and tapping his feet. Neo looked upset over the loss of her new best friend.

"What's wrong bud? I told you to pee before we left!" she whined as his ears flattened against his head.

"Come on Red, we'll take the mutt for a walk and then let someone else take over watch," the man said as he got up. Sensing the imminent walk, Zwei followed him.

"Don't get too comfy you little fluffy rat," he said as Zwei yipped at him quietly.

Neo and Ruby turned to one another. Ruby blushed a little. Neo turned her head in confusion.

"You uh, have a lot of dog hair on your b-boobs," Ruby mumbled. Neo looked down and indeed saw a lot of fur stuck on her chest. It really was everywhere too! When did that little guy even touch her bra!?

She pat herself down as best she could and looked back up at the young reaper.

"Uh, you still have a bit," she said quietly. Neo huffed and pouted adorably.

"Uh here I'll just uh..." Ruby stepped over little by little before she was standing in front of the girl. She reached out and picked away at the fur with years of experience. Zwei shed way too much for a little dog!

Then came the hard part.

"Uh, sorryaboutthis!" Ruby blurted out before getting the hair out of the top of the girls bra. Both girls blushed now and Ruby swore it was the first time Neo had looked embarrassed about... well anything really.

Finally she was done, and the two stood around awkwardly. They met eyes every now and then but would quickly look away. Thankfully the moment was dispelled by their bastard teacher.

"Hey! This isn't my dog and I don't plan on walking him _for _you! And why are you two so red?" he asked as he waited by the door. The two hurried after him.

On the streets, the three walked alongside the corgi, who was sniffing around.

"Just go you little bastard! It's all debris anyways!" Roman growled. He earned a growl back.

"Hey Neo, why'd you ever want one of these things?" he asked as the dog finally found a spot. Neo gave him a middle finger as an answer.

"The nerve! And here I was thinking about getting one of our own—" he was suddenly tackled as Neo looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes. He chuckled.

"Figured if we're sticking around we may as well get to doing some of the things we always wanted to do," he explained. She almost squealed and hugged the man. He hugged her back. Maybe this teaching thing wasn't too bad.

"Wait, did you hear something?" a voice called from down the street. The three went quiet and Ruby grabbed her dog and pulled him behind cover.

"I don't see nothin'. Must be you're imagination," another voice told him. The three peeks around and saw two men in hooded uniforms. Both were wearing masks.

"Why do we even have to stand guard? Not like anyone's coming out here!" the first grunt complained.

"Some of the scouts spotted a bullhead unload some people into the area. Probably hunters given the location. If they found us..." the second grunt trailed off.

"Ugh, point taken," the first responded as they walked through a metal door, a click signaling the lock.

"Well would ya look at that," Roman started, "sometimes they make it too easy."

"Let's go back and get the others," Ruby said. Neo nodded and the two stood.

"Good idea Red. Good to see _you're _at least capable of learning from your mistakes," he grumbled. She had the decency to look sheepish. Just as the three began to turn, there was a groan of steel.

"What's that soun—" Ruby was cut off as the street began collapsing inwards.

"Shit!" Roman yelled as he lost his footing at the unexpected terrain change. Neo and Ruby had tripped into one another and fallen. They both dropped their weapons in the process.

As the ground crumbled, Roman grabbed the edge of the hole, reaching back and grabbing Neo who was holding Ruby.

"Ah shit!" he exclaimed as all the weight in the ledge caused it to fall as well. The three dropped down with the rest of the street and landed hard on solid cement.

"Son of a bitch that smarts," Roman groaned as he held his head. Neo and Ruby had landed together, the two were also groaning on the ground.

"Owww woah, my head," Ruby grumbled, "Zwei didn't fall too did he?"

Roman shook his head at her. She sighed and felt around before gasping.

"My baby!" she cried at the realization that Crescent Rose had fallen before they had plummeted.

Neo looked frustrated too as she lost Hush as well. Roman walked over to them.

"Well, here's the worst part of Mountain Glenn," he spoke as he looked off the building they were on.

"Woah... There's like a whole city down here!" Ruby said in shock.

Neo looked surprised too. She and Ruby looked to Roman.

"This here was the people of Mountain Glenn's last idea. You're looking at the world's largest tomb," he said somberly. Ruby gasped and even Neo looked a little put off.

"But why?" Ruby asked.

"When the Grimm came, the people fled underground. Tried to make it back to the city through the railway tunnels but the city had it sealed before they made it. Place has been hidden from history books since," he said as he scanned the area.

"Hey I think it was over there!" a voice yelled. Damn, that was their queue to bolt.

"Okay you two, it's time to play the world's best game of hide and seek. Let's roll," the thief said as he ran and leapt to an adjacent rooftop. The two girls followed and they all ran down an old fire escape and hid behind some crates.

"Okay, we need to lay low and wait for backup. As good as I am, and as talented as I know you two are, I don't favor our odds with you two weaponless," Roman explained as he peeked above the boxes.

"Mr. Tor— er, Roman," Ruby whispered as she tugged his sleeve. He looked to her and she pointed across the street.

"Shit," he sighed. Why wouldn't that bastard be here?

"All of you, we move in the next few hours!" Adam Taurus commanded. The grunts all cheered and put things into overtime, moving crates and checking on train carts.

"This isn't right, from our information they shouldn't be moving for another few weeks," Roman stated. It was knowledge that he, Neo, and Mercury had all told Ozpin about. That the White Fang was already preparing to move? And today at that? That was bad news.

"We need to get in contact with Oz," Roman commanded. The other two nodded. If they didn't earn anyone soon, then the city would be defenseless with all the students and staff gone on missions.

"Any word on those drop ins from Beacon?" Adam demanded from a grunt.

"No sir! We haven't seen them at all!" he replied. Adam huffed and looked away. Roman noticed that the man had a new feature. Or rather, had replaced an old feature.

Atop Adam's head was a set of metal horns, point up more than his last ones. They looked sharper and more suited for offense than his old ones.

"This is real bad," Roman mused to himself. Hopefully that mutt could get the rest of their crew down here and they could stop this.

"Roman! Behind us!" Ruby suddenly warned. Acting on instinct alone, he whipped around and flung his cane, it spun like a boomerang before it cracked one grunt in the temple, knocking him unconscious. It then bounced and knocked the other grunt out, this one sounding more feminine.

"Thanks Red, you just saved our asses," Roman said as he checked and made sure nobody heard. Ruby beamed at the praise.

Neo nudged them both and pointed to the two unconscious guards.

"Hmmm, you know what Neo, I think you're onto something," Roman said as he stepped over the two bodies.

"Hey you two, come here," he motioned them over. He knelt down and started fiddling with the two faunus.

"Wh-what are you doing!?" Ruby yelped as she realized he was disrobing the female guard. After he had fully undressed her she could see her small squirrel ears. U importantly she could also see _everything else _including her undergarments which had her blushing.

"It's life or death out here Red, this is just survival," he claimed as he tossed her the girls clothes, "now put those on. They probably won't fit over your clothes so you're gonna have to change. I'll make sure to pay for a new outfit for you later."

"Aww man, okay..." she groaned as she took the uniform and ran around the corner.

"And I'll try and fit into this one. Neo, you are so lucky that you don't have to do this," he complained as he tossed his jacket to the side. After securing everything he handed Melodic Cudgel to Neo.

"Disguise that as a sword and get yourself in uniform," she nodded and in a twinkle of glass was wearing the same outfit as the other grunts. His cane now appeared to be a normal sword which she put on her hip.

"Go check on Red while I keep watch," he asked as he looked around the street. Neo nodded and went around the same corner as Ruby. What she saw made her want to laugh and blush at the same time.

_Ruby, you need a little help? _her scroll asked at a low volume.

"Neo? Uh, y-yes please," the young Rose pleaded. Currently she had her arms stuck in the long black shirt of the uniform, the sleeves having gotten tangled together while the girl had rushed to change. Furthermore, the thing that was making Neo red was that Ruby had already changed into the uniforms pants. As it were, the faunus woman was a bit... thicker than Ruby, and so the pants had fallen and exposed the poor girl.

Neo quickly helped her and fastened the belt tighter. Both were red once more and Ruby, not for the first time, was considering asking Neo to just end her now so that she wouldn't have to look the other girl in the eyes.

"Th-thanks," the young reaper whispered, due to the severity of the situation and her humiliation alike. Neo nodded and they were quiet as they tried not to meet each other's eyes by donning their masks. Well, Neo just made one but the point was that they couldn't see the embarrassment of the other anymore. Then it was really, _really _quiet.

_So cookies and ice cream cones huh? _Neo's scroll asked.

"Neo, please erase the image from your mind," the young Rose begged. Neo, still blushing, nodded and the two rejoined Roman.

"Oh good, you two are done jerking each other off," he said as he rolled his eyes before equipping his own mask.

"Sh-shut up!" Ruby whined. He chuckled. Kids were so easy sometimes.

"Alright, now we just need to make our way back to the surface and get the rest, then we can—"

"Hey! You three! Get back to work on the train, we don't have enough people on it yet!" Adam shouted as they walked into the main street.

"Shit, okay new plan, follow my lead," he whispered back. He cleared his throat and spoke in a different voice.

"Yes sir, we're on it!" he said as convincingly as possible. Adam simply grunted and turned to order some others.

The three walked towards the train before heading around the other side, out of Adam's sight.

"Okay now what?" Ruby asked. Neo looked at him as well and looked angry. She really wanted to kick that guys ass.

"Hmm, let's we what we're working with," he said as he checked on the train carts. He looked at some of the mechanisms and other parts.

"Weird, there's no brake?" he said. He knew Cinder was planning on getting the Fang into Vale by train but that was all. She never told him exactly where the train was stopping, but why would it have no brakes at all?

"Hey! What are you three doing!?" A grunt asked.

"Uh, we're just ya know... checking the brakes?" Roman answered. It was silent for a moment. Then it was still silent.

Then the grunt laughed.

"Hahaha! Good one brother! Just tell me you're taking a break next time!" he laughed as he walked away. The three looked to one another. That was... strange.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble.

"Go time you two," he stated. They nodded and the three hopped aboard the train. As they looked around, Roman bumped into something and looked up at it. What he saw made him shiver. But not a minute later did he have an idea.

"You two get ready to fight them off," he said as he climbed up the thing he bumped into. Ruby gasped at it and Neo had a feral smile.

Go time indeed.

* * *

Barking. There was so much barking.

"Somebody turn it off," Mercury groaned. The others let out similar noises of aggravation as well. It was late and Ruby and Neo were still supposed to keep watch right now.

"Ugh, Zwei what is it? Momma needs her beauty sleep!" Yang growled. Zwei continued to bark.

"Ruby, please make him be quiet," Weiss whined.

There was no reply.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked again, now looking around. There was no Ruby. There was no Neo or Torchwick either.

"Uh guys?" Melanie called. They all looked over and saw Zwei holding hush in his mouth.

"Shit," Yang swore as she and the others all got themselves ready to move.

"Lead the way my friend!" Oobleck yelled as the dog turned and dashed off.

He lead them to a large hole in the ground. They looked around and Miltia pointed at something.

"Isn't that Ruby's beloved or whatever?" she asked as she picked up the compact form of Crescent Rose.

"Ruby would never leave with her weapon! We need to find her now!" Yang growled as her eyes started changing into red.

"Then it is likely our allies have fallen beneath the city," Oobleck said.

"Beneath the city?" Blake asked.

"Now is no time for a history lesson Ms. Belladonna. Now," he cocked his thermos and it expanded into a three to four door long club, "is the time for battle."

They all jumped down into the hole and landed atop a building.

"Lower," the doctor said as he leapt to the next building and ran down the fire escape. The others all followed at a hurried pace, at the bottom, there was quite the scene.

"Oh shit," Melanie mumbled. At their feet was the discarded clothes of Ruby and Roman's coat was off to the side. Yang picked up the clothes and looked around, seething and steaming at this point.

"Chill blondie, it looks like they just got creative," Mercury pointed to the two still unconscious guards.

"Hmm, very clever indeed. This has Roman's handiwork written all over it," Oobleck stated as he examined the bodies.

"What now? There's a lot of guards over there," Miltia said as they looked at the mass of faunus soldiers loading things into the train.

"Then we buy our time with distraction," Oobleck said as he took aim and fired a blast of fire at a group of soldiers. The resulting explosion set fire to the crates and shook the tunnel they were in.

"HUNTERS!" one of the grunts yelled.

Then all hell broke loose when the last train carts exploded open and an Atlesian Paladin came barreling through the mass of grunts.

"And that looks like it might be Roman," Oobleck stated. They all dashed in and fought their way through the waves of terrorists.

"Yang!?" a familiar voice called. Yang turned and almost delivered a haymaker to a grunts face before said grunt threw off her mask and revealed her silver eyes.

"RUBY!" Yang exclaimed as she hugged her sister. She pushed her weapon and clothes into the girls hands. She smiled and bolted away, coming back seconds later.

"Man it's so much easier to put these on than that uniform!" Ruby sighed in relief as she adjusted her combat skirt. After fixing herself, she and her sister jumped into the fray, swing and cleaving their way to the train.

Meanwhile, Mercury and the twins were engaged in an elaborate dance, the three of them were fucking and weaving through attacks, lashing out in every direction and rolling over the backs of one another as they traded places.

"I take it back! You two may have some fancy footwork after all!" Mercury praised as he delivered a straight kick into a grunt which sent them flying into another two behind them.

"You're not too bad yourself lover boy!" Miltia shouted back as she swiped three grunts back before dropping into a split, allowing Melanie to send a kick over her head and into another oncoming attacker.

"Yeah, keep that up and maybe we'll take you on a date!" Melanie teased as she flipped back and over Mercury, who spun around and jumped to drop kick a grunt, using the momentum to jump back and land back to back with the twins. Suddenly a grunt from the crowd began lashing out and beating other grunts into submission.

"What the hell?" Mercury asked. The twins and team RWBY, minus Ruby, were just as confused. Suddenly, the grunt did a ballerina twirl and their uniform shattered away, revealing a smirking Neo. Her team laughed at her entrance.

"Hey leader! Think this belongs to you!" Mercury yelled as he tossed her Hush. She flipped up and caught it before coming down and smacking away all the grunts around her with a spin. She winked back at the assassin.

"You lot better have grabbed my hat and coat! You know how much it costs to have those things custom tailored!?" the paladin's speaker announcers as Roman stomped through the crowd. Ruby grabbed the cost and hat from oobleck and the cane from Neo before running up the paladin's arm and knocking on the cockpit window.

It opened up and Roman threw the White Fang outfit out into some poor grunts face, who then got kicked and punched by Mercury and Yang.

"Delivery!" Ruby said. He chuckled and took his stuff back.

"Thanks Red," he winked before closing the cockpit again.

"ENOUGH! WHITE FANG, THE TRAIN LEAVE NOW WHETHER YOU'RE ABOARD OR NOT!" Adam shouted before dashing to the front of the cart. The train lurched and the grunts all stopped fighting to clamber aboard.

"We need to get on that train!" Oobleck shouted. They all ran and climbed aboard, Roman leaping up with the paladin.

"There are more of these things on board! And the train doesn't have any brakes!" Roman announced again.

"What!? Why wouldn't it have breaks!?" Blake shouted up at the cockpit. The paladin shrugged. Oobleck knelt down and opened the hatch at the top of the cart.

"This is a bomb!" he shouted. They all quickly ran and jumped on the next cart. A moment later the cart they were on fell behind as they sled forward.

"They're trying to leave us behind!" Weiss yelled.

"No," Mercury said as he opened the hatch and found another bomb, "these are all bombs!"

They all screamed and ran ahead, trying to get as far along the train as possible. As they did, the first cart that detached exploded, opening a hole above ground.

"What the hell!?" Yang shouted.

Then the Grimm began pouring in. All kinds, from beowolves to ursa to creeps and even a king taijitu.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! Stop them immediately!" Adams voice shouted from the trains intercom.

"We need to halt them! Students, get inside and stop this train from the front! Roman and I shall deal with the fodder!" Oobleck ordered as he fired into the oncoming grunts, many falling off the train.

"Here we go guys!" Yang shouted as she ripped the hatch open and there the bomb out. They all dropped in and began fighting through the train.

"Alrighty then Bart, let's see what kinda damage we can really do," Roman said.

"I concur!" Oobleck said before Zwei leapt and curled into a ball. The doctor slammed his club into the dog, sending the now howling ball of fire forward into a paladin, throwing it off the train immediately.

"Holy shit what the hell did they feed that thing!?" Roman screamed as he went and started fistfighting another mech. He swung from the right and tossed the mech off with the other one.

"Is there a radio in there Roman!?" Oobleck yelled as he batted aside grunt after grunt.

"Yeah! I'll put a call through a best I can!" he answered. He fiddled with the radio before finding a frequency that worked.

* * *

Ironwood and Ozpin were currently playing a game of chess at three in the morning. It was the only time they didn't have any work to be doing so they used it as best they could.

"Check," Ozpin said. Ironwood growled. Damn this old bastard and his crafty ways.

Suddenly the general's scroll started emitting radio scrambles, the noise making both men cringe a little.

"Who the hell is trying to radio me at this hour?" James asked. Ozpin narrowed his eyes.

"Oz—...! Anyone—...! Train—...! Glenn—...!" and then it went silent as it sounded like the pilot may have had to let whatever radio they were using explode with their vehicle.

"James—"

"Let's go," he said as the two got up. As they turned to the elevator, the doors opened and revealed a very concerned and angry looking Glynda.

"My Bad Idea Senses are tingling and I have a feeling that Roman and Bart are behind it," she stated.

The three all nodded and mobilized as fast as they could.

* * *

"Roman are you okay!?" Oobleck yelled as he ran ahead to where the thief's paladin had just exploded from excessive gunfire.

"I'm all good, I've been in bigger explosions than that," he answered as he pat himself down.

"We should move ahead before the students come into contact with Taurus," Oobleck suggested.

"You," a growl came.

"Or he could come to us," Roman groaned and duck as a blade slash soared overhead.

"Keep your kill boner down! We're all gonna crash if we don't stop this train!" Roman shouted. Adam chuckled and raised his sword at the two men.

"Then let it. We have unfinished business, scum," the faunus challenged.

"The horns mounted above my desk in my classroom say otherwise," he shot back. Adam screamed in rage and dashed forward, putting the two hunters on the defensive.

"Look man, it's hard being second best," Roman ducked, "but when it's me you're dealing with is it really that surprising?"

Adam said nothing, only grunted and shouting in rage as he swung fast and hard, trying to dismember the thief.

Roman threw fists and spun his cane in fat circles as he blocked and dodged the stiles. He even kicked the faunus in the shins once or twice. Adam responded by headbutting him and stabbing Roman in the arm with his new horns. Be prepared to stab down into the thief.

Suddenly the faunus went flying back as a fireball exploded against his chest.

"Nice shot Bart," Roman complemented with a small golf clap.

Adam howled as he ran back towards them, just as he was about to perform his devastating roundslash maneuver, he tripped over a small and steadfast corgi.

"Good boy!" Roman cheered as Adam sailed toward them as all of his momentum worked against him. Roman stomped down and the hatch to the cart opened right as Adam reached them.

_THUNK!_

"Well, that's one way to handle it," Oobleck said as he jumped below and into the train. Roman almost followed, but looked at the unconscious tyrant.

"Hmmm, I guess I have time. And it'll be so worth it later..." with that he pulled out a tool that every thief should've owned.

A file.

"Ohhhhoho shit he's gonna be so pissed!" he laughed as he got to work.

* * *

Meanwhile below deck, the students had been throttling the grunts in their way. It seems there wasn't a lot of skill on the train, just a lot of numbers.

Weiss and the twins were currently dealing with a massive bear of a man wielding a chainsaw sword. Whenever he swung, Weiss would block with her own sword and the twins would dash in and score jabs and kicks in the man. While it didn't seem to do much, it was clearly wearing down on him.

He roared and began spinning in a circle, slicing the walls themselves as he spun towards them.

"Oh hell no!" Miltia shouted as she leapt up a stack of boxes and decked the man in the face. He flew back and into a wall, sliding down and going still.

"Hmph, shows him," Weiss tsked. The twins flanked her on either side.

"Nice moves ice queen, ever think about using them in bed?" Miltia asked.

"Wh-Shut up!" the heiress shrieked.

"Come on Weiss! Let us into the family, we wanna see some of the schmoney!" Melanie begged as she pressed against the girl.

"Man you guys are desperate," Mercury and Yang said in unison. They came in from behind and kicked and punched some grunts into the cart. They were unconscious before they hit the floor.

"We're just trying to climb the ladder," Melanie defended. They all shared a quick laugh before Blake ran in from the cart ahead.

"We have an issue," she said quickly.

"Of course we do," Mercury groaned. They went ahead and saw Neo and Ruby trying to pry and cut the door to the engine room open.

"It's stuck and we can't cut it! We even tried melting it!" Ruby explained as she slices at the steel. It was clearly reinforced and has a small pad to the right of the door.

"What's that?" Yang asked.

"Scan lock, it'll only open to Adam," Blake stated as they all tried in various violent ways to force the door open.

"Girls, what's the issue!?" Oobleck screamed as he ran in with Zwei.

"The door is indestructible and only Adam can activate the lock!" Ruby yelled, growing more nervous as the explosions behind the train began to get drowned out by the sound of the Grimm.

"That's not good considering we just knocked Mr. Taurus unconscious," he mused in concern.

"Worry not, I think I may have a solution," Roman said as he dropped in from the hatch above with Adam over his shoulder.

"We can just borrow his face, I'm sure he won't mind," Roman said as he swung the faunus around and pressed his face against the pad a little harder than necessary.

"Uh, Roman?" Ruby started.

"Yes Red?" he replied.

"Where are his horns? The new metal ones?" she questioned.

"Beats me, must've broken when he tripped into the hatch," he replied as he continued to slam the faunus's face into the pad.

"Those are pretty clean cuts," Mercury commented as they all looked at the near perfectly flat surface where Adam's horns once were.

"Look I already told you I don't know what happened to 'em!" he threw up his hands, dropping Adam face first into the metal flooring with another solid _thunk._

As he did, two large metal horns fell out of his coat pocket. They all just stared at them and then looked back up at the thief who looked nowhere near ashamed, maybe even a little annoyed.

He slowly picked up the horns, which he'd clearly filed off of the passed out faunus and much closer to the man's skull this time, and stashed them back in his pocket.

"Anyways somebody hold his eye open," he demanded. Neo stepped up and there away the mask.

"Whew, hey ice queen, this scar look familiar?" Roman asked. They all winced at the brand across the man's eye.

"Please, I'd never do such an abhorrent thing to another person, no matter how awful they are," she huffed.

As Neo held his eye open and Roman slammed his face into the pad, it finally turned green and the door opened.

"Pull the brake!" Oobleck shouted! Ruby dashed forward and hefted back, the brake giving way and the train lurching. Mercury looked out the window.

"Guys, that wall is still coming up fast!" he exclaimed as he stepped back.

"Everyone, around me!" Weiss shouted. They all huddled together as Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster down and created a bullhead of ice around them.

"Okay kids, it was nice knowing ya!" Roman said as he hugged Neo. They all activated their auras and clenched as the inevitable came.

The noise hit them all first, before everything went black.

* * *

Neo awoke to the world sideways. She rubbed her head and looked around, still dizzy from the crash. She'd been in gentler explosions.

Roman was next to her, still unconscious. She slapped him a little and he stirred, cracking an eye open.

She looked and saw her teammates and friends getting up as well. They all seemed shaken but okay.

"Ah shit it's morning already?" he groaned. She rolled her eyes, at least he was okay. She turned around and her eyes shot wide open.

There was a giant hole in the wall of the square. A hole that was currently filled with Grimm that had been following their train.

Then the sirens started.

The blaring was enough to make one cover their ears. Neo looked around and saw all of the civilians. That definitely wasn't good. Neither was the person that just shouted 'grimm' at the top of their lungs.

"Neo, kill these things before they get any deeper into the city," Roman told her as he aimed and shot three times into the ruins. As his shots traveled they lot up the tunnel and allowed them to see what they were up against.

The sight was chilling.

Each shot that traveled down the tunnel and into the Grimm illuminated the darkness and showed just how many there really were. They couldn't do this with just ten of them! And where the hell was the dog!?

She got her answer when a wrecked paladin tried crawling out of the debris but was halted as the corgi leapt off its head.

Just as they all started unloading into the horse, two bullhead soared overhead.

"IT'S NORA TIME!" the ginger screamed as she flew out of the bullhead and into the mass of darkness, and explosion sending the bodies flying.

"And Ren too!" she chanted as she looked up. Ren simply landed and stabbed the one Grimm that survived the initial explosion.

"Mr. Torchwick! You owe me a shopping trip after this!" Coco Adel shouted as she unloaded thousands of rounds into the oncoming creatures. Roman scoffed but leapt in and did his part in clearing out the Grimm. The rest of team CVFY descended into the horse with the ferocity of a hungry animal.

"Oho! Roman! Bart! Shall we see who can take the most down?" Peter asked as he joined up with the other professors.

"Ha, I think I've got the lead now! Try catching up with my headstart Peter!" Roman laughed as he shot more explosive rounds into the tunnel to head off any Grimm that were still coming.

Jaune and Pyrrha we're back to back, currently hacking and slashing, with Jaune guarding Pyrrha's back in full.

"Jaune! You've improved a lot!" she complimented.

"Oh stop, you're just saying that," he said as he shield bashed an ursa in the nose before cutting off its head.

"No! I mean it! Good job babe!" she said. Neo paused and looked over at them. Pyrrha went red and Jaune froze. She smirked and winked before shattering away and sliding under Ruby to stab at a boarbatusk.

"I coulda done that!" Ruby laughed. Neo winked and quickly typed while she dodged.

_I know, but I just wanted another peek, _she said before somersaulting over the girl to stab a beowolf.

"Another peek? What do you—?" Ruby then froze as she remembered Neo sliding under her.

"NEO!" she cried as she went red and chased the other girl. As they ran, Mercury and Yang were back to back.

"So punches huh?" he asked.

"Seriously, kicks?" she asked at the same time.

"Hah! Tell you what, let's trade stances sometime?" he offered.

"Only if you think you have what it takes twinkle toes!" she responded as they leapt off each other's backs and into an ursa and a creep.

A few feet away the twins were fighting off any Grimm poor enough to get near the blender they had become. As a king taijitu almost descended upon them, a flurry of rockets exploded against its body, sending pieces flying everywhere.

"Girls!" Junior yelled from across the way, rocket launcher still smoking.

"Junior, what are you doing here?" Miltia asked.

"These things are freakin everywhere! I'm not letting a single one near my bar!" he yelled as he unloaded into the horde of Grimm.

"Leave it to Junior to think with his wallet," Melanie said as she spun and decapitated a beowolf. She kicked her boot clean.

"If it means he's actually doing something why complained right?" Miltia replied as she gouged a creep with her claws.

Suddenly, the Atlas armada descended into the scene, mopping up and remaining Grimm and going deeper into the city to scout for any stragglers.

"Boys that's enough," Glynda called as she started sealing the hole in the wall.

"No! Glynda if you deal that up we lose the bet!" Peter said.

"What bet?" she spat.

"Glyn! I'm in the lead! They both owe me a months salary!" he yelled. She rolled her eyes and seals the breach.

"Damn! Conspiring against us just because you're in a relationship is cheating!" Peter grumbled.

"Wait we're not—"

"What!? We aren't—"

They both paused and looked at each other.

"Are we?" they both asked.

"If the noise coming from your room a week ago are anything to go off of then you two are already past the beginning stages," Bart explained simply. Both went wide eyes at that, with Glynda starting to blush and Roman stammering.

"Well, uh, you know we had to make... pudding!" he lied.

"Yes, that's all that happened," Glynda said as she looked away to hide her embarrassment.

"Ah yes, and that's why Glynda kept _screaming_ for more, yes?" Peter asked. They both went silent.

"Well—"

"That's—"

"We just—"

"Ya know—"

They both stopped and walked away, leaving Peter laughing and Bart lamenting as his next months salary was lost.

"Are we actually?" Roman asked the deputy.

"I... suppose we are. It... wouldn't make sense for us to be as we are otherwise," she replied.

"Sooo..." he trailed off, "how do we do this?"

"I... don't have the most experience myself," she replied.

"Well I think we've been doing great so far," he commented. She nodded.

"I would agree," she said simply as they walked a little closer. She slowly reached over and looped her arm through his. He chuckled.

"Brothers we are the worst," he laughed. She tried not to but couldn't help herself as she joined him. The new couple laughed and walked away as Adam Taurus awoke.

"Urgh," he groaned, his head hurt like hell. He put a hand to his head. It felt different somehow. Lighter, smoother, but he couldn't say due to his dizziness.

"Is this him?" a voice asked.

"Looks like it, thought he'd have," the soldier put his index fingers up and put them on the sides of his head.

"Yeah same, but that's the same hair and scowl," the first one said. They shrugged and hoisted him up. He looked up and came face to face with General Ironwood of the Atlas military.

"Adam Taurus?" he asked.

"What of it scum?" he spat. Ironwood looked about him at something. Come to me too it, as he looked around, everyone in the clearing was looking at something above him. What the hell was going on?

"Yes well... we'll question you once you have a chance to adjust to your new home," and by home he of course meant cell. As Adam was escorted forwards he looked at the sleek chromatic ship he was being taken onto. He caught his reflection on the side of the ship.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!"

"What was that?" Glynda asked.

"Ha! He just found out," Roman said as he took out the two perfectly trimmed horns and twirled them around. Glynda rolled her eyes but left it be. She'd let him have his pissing contest with the man. After all, it's not like she was clambering to pity Adam Taurus of all people.

"Shall we head back to the school? I'm sure Ozpin will wish to thank you for your warning earlier," she asked as she tentatively leaned against his side. He tensed for a moment but relaxed around her. He hummed.

"I need to run one little errand first," he said. She gave him a him and a questioning look but he was already leading the way deeper into town.

"I hope they're open," he mumbled. She was pretty confused by this point. Did Ms. Politan deal with this all the time. That thought made her realize something very important.

"Roman, what are we going to tell Ms. Politan?" she asked. She didn't want to impose on their relationship at all, and Brothers did she already deal with enough students with parental issues.

"Well, what I'm doing right now will probably answer that. And you should also probably start calling her Neo," he cracked and her ears turned red. She coughed into her hand.

"We're here! And they _are _open! Damn, even in the midst of a Grimm invasion too, that's solid practice," Roman said. Glynda looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"One, I don't think that we allow this on school grounds, and two, _really_?" she asked. He chuckled and lead her inside. Hopefully this would be enough to keep Neo from freaking out on him.

* * *

"Ohhhh goddamn I'm tired and sore in joints I don't think I even have anymore," Mercury groaned. Currently teams RWBY, JNPR, and MMMN we're all relaxing in the student recreation room. They were all sprawled on couches and chairs, some people doubling up like the twins, Jaune and Pyrrha, and much to Yang's chagrin Neo and Ruby who passed out on each other almost immediately upon touching the small couch.

"Quit complaining, I need to get my nails done at least twice if I want to make the boys and girls go crazy," Miltia said as she wept over her faded nails. Melanie consoled her sister and told her it's all be okay.

Roman walked in, and they could see Glynda behind him. He snapped in front of her face and she woke up glaring at him.

"Hey squirt, let's chat," he said as he left again.

"Ooooh, Neo's in trouble~" Yang mocked before receiving a flick in the temple from Blake, "OW! Bitch!"

Neo rolled her eyes and got up from her comfy position with Ruby. She swore it was just a friends thing and that was all. No other amount of emotions made either of them decide nap together.

She left the room and came face to face with Roman and Glynda. She nodded to the latter and cocked a hip as she turned to Roman.

"Okay so, I feel like it's my job to tell you that I'm..." he trailed off and looked above her, "uh, what I mean is that we—"

Glynda groaned and stepped forward.

"Ms— _Neo,_" Glynda spoke, making Neo feel very unsure of where this was going, "what Roman is trying to say is that we..."

And then she trailed off too.

"Yeah not so easy right?" Roman chastised. She blew in his face and cleared her throat.

"Roman and I have agreed to start seeing each other in a... romantic setting," she finally ground out. Neo's eyes were wide and she looked to Roman. Were they giving her the step parent conversation!? She wasn't even his biological daughter! And there was never a first mom for Glynda to be the step mother!

"Look Neo, I know that this is new so I got you something to make up for any time that we might lose together," Roman said as he knelt down. Neo looked at him with such a strong pout that he swore his aura took damage.

"Glyn, would you?" he asked. She nodded and brought a loosely wrapped box over. There were holes at the top and the box... bumped a little?

"Go on," Roman waved his hand at the box. It was pretty big. Not giant, but roughly the size of a large microwave. She Rose a brow at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Open the damn box!" he exclaimed. She blew a raspberry at him and tore the box open.

Only she quickly found out it wasn't a box.

It was a cage.

A cage with a very fluffy puppy with a short snout and dark brown, almost black, fur with creating a of golden fur around its neck and on its face.

Neo's head whipped up to him and her mouth hung open.

"I uh, may have come into some money from a... friendly competition," Roman explained with a smirk. She looked at Glynda who looked very out of her element.

"It's... against school policy for students to keep pets but... teachers are allowed to own them if they live on campus and since Roman's name is on his tags and certificate..." she trailed off. _The _Glynda Goodwitch breaking rules? Well, finding loopholes but still!

Neo looked at the tag and giggled at the name.

"Yeah well, he likes hands," Roman told as she looked over his information. The dog already seemed smitten with the girl and was trying to press itself through the cage and into her.

On his tags the name _Chew _was proudly displayed. She carefully opened the cage and lifted Chew out. He wasted no time in licking her face.

"He's a Vacuvian breed, so he's just like you and me," Roman said, "careful though, he's gonna get big. I mean BIG too, seriously, they breed these guys to fight tiger Grimm and ursa!"

Neo hugged Chew into her chest and stood. She walked over to Roman and thrust herself and the dog into his chest.

"Ah watch the white coa— oh never mind it's too late," he groaned as he hugged her back. The puppy snorted and whined a little, licking both of them.

Glynda smiled as she watched the scene. Criminals they may have been, but they are still people. Perhaps she was biased, but who would call her out on it?

"Alright now the food and some toys are in there too, he's got a chain leash since he kept chewing through all the other kinds, the bastard, but I expect you to take care of him. Use this as a chance to cultivate life rather than take it," he suggested. She gave him a smirk and a thumbs up.

"Cool! Glad that's out of the way," he said as he turned to leave.

"Oh, and Neo?" he said turning his head to her. She watched him as Chew nibbled her fingers.

"Everything will be alright," he said with a small but genuine smile. He turned the corner and Glynda waved to her as well.

"Hey Neo what did Roman wannaaaaaAAAAAAA OH MY GOD IT'S A PUPPY!" Ruby exclaimed as her eyes found the fluffy form of Chew. The puppy blinked at her before rolling over on Neo's lap.

"DID I HEAR PUPPY!" Nora roared from the rec room. Soon enough everyone was oogling the over Chew except for Blake who was hissing, Mercury who was trying, and failing, to look uninterested, and Zwei who looked betrayed. A quick scoop up from Ruby eased that though.

"Don't worry Zwei! We can go on doggy dates together!" Ruby said.

"Oh? I didn't know you and Neo were so willing to go on any kind of date?" Yang teased.

"IT'S A DOGGY DATE YANG! DON'T RUIN THE SANCTITY OF THE DOGGY DATE!" Ruby cried in both anger and embarrassment. Neo giggled. Beacon was... an interesting place. Here she and Roman were trying not to fall in line with all of these hero crazed bastards and yet now she's sitting in a circle of friends made up of criminals and heroes alike with a puppy in her arms.

_Maybe being the food guy has its perks, _she thought as she cradled the pup.

And when they'd all visit Roman and Glynda's classroom the next day to ask him something they'd see a new plaque right above the first one.

Adorned with the new, larger and more menacing horns it read as such:

_Reason No. 2 Not To Bite Off More Than You Can Chew._

Roman would claim that he never knew it was there. That, of course, was a lie.

* * *

"Ma'am?" Emerald started.

"Yes Emerald, I'm aware he was captured, it's all part of the plan," Cinder said as she drank wine straight from the bottle now.

"Uh, I was actually going to say that we've found Mercury," the girl said. Cinder sat up. That _was _good news.

"Find a way to get in contact with him or break him free. We may still be able to salvage this situation yet," Cinder said with a malicious look in her eye.

"Uh, about that," Emerald trailed off.

"What?" Cinder asked. What could possibly be the issue?

"I got these pictures off of social media," she said as she handed the women her scroll.

Cinder let her eyes drift along the images. Who the hell was _Goldielockandload_? She found her most recent images and nearly crushed the device with her bare hands.

An image of Mercury playing beer pong with Neo, a ginger girl, a girl in sunglasses, a monkey faunus, and _Pyrrha Nikos _was displayed with the caption: _Chilling with our new homeboy Merc! Guy outed his old boss and called her a psycho bitch LMAO! Just finished cleaning up the streets after the breach celebrating with a traditional Vale pastime._

"Ma'am?" Emerald asked, "Should I get the stress ball again?"

Cinder then caught fire.

"I'll go get the chardonnay as well."

* * *

**Poor Cinder. Maybe if you were an interesting character that was actually capable of death instead of having more plot armor than Jaune's new haircut I'd write about you more.**

**A shame, truly.**

**At any rate, that's the end of volume 2! And yes, I added a dog OC because dogs are the best.**

**For anyone who's wondering, Chew is supposed to be a Tibetan Mastiff, but Tibet doesn't exist in Remnant so I took some creative liberties.**

**BTW, all my omakes are canon! I just don't know where they'd fit in the story so I write them as bonuses. So for those of you wondering if they are or not, they are!**

**Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review! Seeing my work get any attention puts a hop in my step!**

**Have a lovely time!**

**Don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Neo uses puppy power to win girls only to foiled by her own hubris**

Neo was currently trying to train Chew how to sit. It seems so easy with Zwei! And yet here she was currently mimicking how he should sit by doing it herself and generally just making herself look like an idiot. She blushed and thanked the Brothers than nobody was around to see this.

"Hey Neo!" Ruby called from behind.

_Tits! _Neo thought.

"Whatcha doin?" Ruby asked as she stood over the girl. Neo turned and looked up at her from the floor. She typed.

_Trying to get Chew to sit, _even her scroll sounded tired. Ruby hummed and grabbed the treat out of Neo's hand. She sat next to the girl and held her free hand out.

"Sit!" she said in a chipper tone. Chew walked forward for the treat but Ruby stopped him with her hand.

"Ah ah ah! Sit!" she said once more, this time pointing down. Chew whine for a moment before plopping himself down.

"Good boy!" Ruby exclaimed as she gave him the treat. He lapped it up and kicked her hand clean before standing.

Neo looked shocked. She did so easily!

"Ah Chew! What're you doing! Bad dog! BAD DOG!" Ruby suddenly shouted. Neo watched as Chew leapt on the young reaper. Not wanting to hurt the dog with her superior strength, Ruby tried to roll the dog off but he was persistent.

"S-stop! Don't chew that!" Ruby yelped as the dog bit down on the lace of her corset. Now he was playful and began pulling away at the laces.

"Ah! Neo help!" Ruby called. When she looked over Neo was simply staring as her face got more and more red. Ruby's own face was already red but she didn't understand why Neo was heating up.

Neo meanwhile was watching the corset tighten and push the girls breasts up more. Just as Neo tried to snap out of it and help, Chew pulled the lace free from the top and started playing with it. The front of the goth's top popped open and Neo's mouth hung open at the view.

"GAH! NEO STOP LOOKING YOU PERV!" Ruby yelled as she kicked out of embarrassment and reflex. Neo, too preoccupied with starring took the kick right in the face, falling backwards. She blinked. What just happened?

"Neo! Why didn't you help me!?" Ruby asked as she stood over her mute friend. Neo was now distracted again by another view. Ruby raises a brow before realizing what was going on.

"STOP LOOKING UP MY SKIRT!" Ruby shouted as she elbow dropped the girl's stomach. Neo heaved and curled into her side. Ruby stole back her lace from Chew and redid her corset. After making sure everything was in place she huffed and crossed her arms at Neo.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Ruby asked as she pouted.

_Pink with strawberries, _Neo typed out, still in a daze. Ruby growled. So this was her tipping point huh? She never knew how her sister felt went she got angry but now she got it.

"Okay then..." Ruby said as she moved closer to the girl. Neo didn't even notice what was happening until it was too late.

* * *

"Uh, Neo? You okay?" Mercury asked. A thumbs up was his response.

"Cool, uh it's just that you seem a little... not okay in there," he replied. She waved her had in a nonchalant way.

"Do you need help?" he asked. She gave him another thumbs up so he rolled up his sleeves and pulled her out of the trash can. She had been stuffed in it waist first so that her legs were hanging out and her upper body had fallen in, leaving her stuck.

"How'd that happen?" he asked as she pat herself down and pulled a banana peel off her back.

_I saw the forbidden goods and was punished for my intrusion, _her scroll stated.

He just nodded and followed behind her as she walked away.

"And where's Chew?" he asked finally.

_Ruby took him and said that she'd bring him back when I was done being rude, _Neo's scroll intoned. He rolled his eyes.

"You're telling me Ruby did that? Please," he huffed.

Just then Ruby came by with Chew.

"Neo, I see you made it out of the Fool's Confinement. Have you thought about what you've done?" the young reaper asked. Neo just nodded her head.

"Okay! I walked Chew and be was a very good boy, weren't you boy? Weren't you?" and just like that the girl was herself again.

"Wait you actually dunked her in a trash can?" Mercury asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said simply. Neo just looked on with a goofy smile.

"Girls are fuckin wild dude," he mumbled as he walked away.


	14. Chapter 14

**OPENING MESSAGE, GO!**

**Oh yeah and also SEASON 3, GO!**

* * *

Neo was currently faced with a great challenge. She'd stolen, survived and slept in awful conditions, eaten awful things, and maybe even killed people. But this was entirely out of her league. She motioned her arm upwards.

"Borf!" Chew barked as he remained standing as his fluffy tail wagged back and forth.

"Neo you're being to gentle! It's okay to be firmer with him!" Ruby said. The young reaper currently sat beside her and was trying to help her train her new dog.

Said dog was refusing to sit, and Neo was too afraid to be forceful with him so it was up to Ruby as the more experienced dog owner to help her.

"Chew! Sit boy!" Ruby said as she held out her hand. Chew barked and sat. Neo fell back in exasperation. Ruby pat her stomach while she stared at the ceiling.

"You'll get it eventually Neo! I believe in you!" Ruby claimed as the puppy cane and plopped down on his owners stomach. Neo pet him and he nibbled her fingers.

"Who's watching him while we compete in the festival?" Ruby asked as she got up and dusted herself off. Neo typed her response with one hand as she ruffled Chews fur with the other.

_Roman said he'd do it since it's technically his dog too, _Neo replied. Ruby put a finger to her chin as she hummed.

"Speaking of Roman, I haven't seen him today. Where'd he go?" Ruby asked. Neo shrugged as she lifted Chew and held him under her arm like an adorable briefcase. It was a little later in the afternoon and the two had spent an hour in the garden training Chew. Well, _attempting _to train Chew.

"Well I'm sure he's doing something productive!" Ruby said as they walked to the cafeteria. Neo rolled her eyes. With Roman it was almost a perfect fifty-fifty chance.

* * *

"Ah, it's nice to just enjoy a drink alone every now and then," Roman sighed as he sat at an open bar near the docks.

"I hear ya there brother," a raspy voice said. Roman looked to his right and saw a haggard and clearly intoxicated man.

"Hey you look kinda familiar, have we met before?" the drunk man asked.

"Can't say we have," Roman replied, a little disappointed by the new company. He supposed his alone time would come later.

"Man I swear I've seen you somewhere, that's crazy," the man claimed. He was clearly a hunter I'd the sword on his hip was anything to go by. The cape too since he'd never seen anyone besides a hunter wear a cape.

"Nah, maybe I'm just getting too old. Festivals coming up and everyone's starting to blend together," he grumbled. Roman had to resist laughing at the drunk.

"Yeah well try working with kids! Remembering one classes names is hard enough, they've got me trying to remember like five hundred students names!" Roman groaned.

"That's the worst part! I _do _work with kids! And I've got two nieces on top of that! You know how many talentless little bastards try and tell me they're gonna be the next best hunter!?" the drunk yelled. By this point the other patrons were shooting the two some dirty looks, but the sword and Roman's reputation kept them at bay. For now at least.

"I swear man, people like you and me? We're the ones who should be in charge! Think of all the good we can do!" Roman slurred. Perhaps he'd been drinking for too long.

"Yeah! I oughta go to my boss and tell him to shove it!" the other man yelled.

"I think both of you have had enough," the bartender said as he took the bottle away. The other man reached for it like a child while Roman booed the barkeep.

"Also, I believe she's here for one of you," the bartender said as he pointed behind them. They both turned to see one very pissed off looking witch.

"Glynda?" they both asked.

"Roman I expected better from you," she groaned.

"Roman?" the haggard man asked.

"And Qrow, what would Ms. Rose say about this?"

"Qrow? And Rose?" Roman asked as well. Glynda growled and lifted them both out of their seats and out of the bar.

"To think two grown men are acting more childish than our students," she grumbled to herself.

"Hey I am not a grown man! I am a student!" Qrow argued.

"I just said that!" she shouted.

"Oh. I meant that I am not a student! I'm a grown... student?" he mumbled. She rolled her eyes.

"Roman, how drunk are you?" she asked.

"Drunk enough to be fun, sober enough to know you're mad with me," he said. She sighed.

"Just... try and save these sorts of things for when you don't have to help with one of the most important events in the festival?" she asked. He hummed.

"Uh, what am I doing again?" he asked hesitantly. She sighed about 'not getting paid to watch more kids' before answering.

"You're going to be announcing the fights with Bart and Port, remember?" she reminded. He groaned and nodded.

"Yes I remember because now I'm remembering the absolute headache it was getting Chew to sit still in the booth," the thief groaned. They had tested to see how the dog would handle the situation of being both very high up and in a confined space. He took it well but he was too damn curious for his own good.

"But other than that everything is in order yes?" she asked. He gave her a thumbs up and she sighed in relief.

"Good, then tomorrow looks set to go smoothly," she claimed as she boarded a bullhead to Beacon. Roman got on with her and Qrow passed out onto the loading platform.

"Should we help him?" Roman asked.

"No, the platform will rise and dump him inwards," she claimed. He watched as her prediction came true and the platform raised, the man's body sliding into the craft before it took off.

"Why's Ozpin want me announcing this thing again? Isn't that like, an awful idea considering who I am?" he asked. She sighed and shook her head.

"Ozpin says it's so people know you're working with us," she stated but shared her own opinion, "but I think it's mostly because he thinks you're a more interesting and theatrical announcer then Bart or Peter."

He hummed. Those were both fair assumptions. If he was seen alongside Beacon staff then there's be less reason for people to scream or throw their wallets at him when he went good shopping. Not that he ever _denied _the free money but he never asked for it either.

"Yeah I guess Bart and Peter aren't the easiest to follow or the most... interesting of people to listen to ramble on for a whole week," he mused. She shivered at the notion. Peter already made all their lives difficult with his constant stories. While the students may have thought he was bad in class, they'd never had to see the man during a meeting. And Bart talked to fast for most people to keep up, so Roman really was their most charming announcer.

"And who's this guy's exactly? Called him Crow or something?" he asked, "Like the bird?"

"Yes like the bird but spelled with a Q not a C," she stated.

"That's... not how that letter works," he said. She sighed and nodded.

"He's Ozpin's eyes and ears around the world," she said. He hummed and observed the man currently cuddling a hip flask.

"Ozpin... sure knows how to pick em, huh?" he asked. She smiled and withheld her laughter.

"He really does. But that would include you as well, no?" she asked. He laughed.

"And you're saying I'm the perfect pick to be around a bunch of kids?" he asked back with a grin. She laughed with him now.

"I never said that, I simply said that you two are more similar than you'd think," she said innocently. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Maybe he and I should spend a little more time together then," Roman mused. Glynda suddenly went pale.

"NO! I don't want to deal with the amount of paperwork that you two would rack up!" she spat. He laughed again and hugged her to his side. She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring a hole through him.

"Relax Glyn! What's a little workplace friendship?" he asked.

"Knowing you both, I can only see this friendship ending in a barn fire," she growled. He laughed again.

"Okay okay, we'll try and be responsible," he conceded. She huffed at him.

"You and responsible divorced and she took your common sense with her," she chuffed. He laughed at her and put a hand over his chest in mock hurt.

"I don't like talking about the divorce Glynda!" he said in an angry tone. They were both silent for a few seconds before they both laughed it off quietly. The Vytal Festival was soon and with it came the tournament that so many people would be watching. Roman wasn't ashamed to say he was a little biased for some of the little Rugrats he had to teach.

They touched down at Beacon and Qrow slid out of the ship on the same door.

"Well, let's toss this guy in a room or on Oz's desk and go rest shall we? Long day tomorrow," he claimed. She nodded and lifted Qrow with her wand and carried him with her as they walked to their room. They'd been sharing one for a week or two now and would only separate if they needed to do other work.

Glynda tossed Qrow in one of the empty rooms and shut the door. He was used to waking up somewhere different than where he fell asleep.

"James make any progress on Bullshit?" Roman asked. Glynda shook her head at his nickname.

"No, Taurus has refused to speak. And according to James, he won't say a word until he can, verbatim, 'rend your head from your shoulders with his bare hands'," Glynda said with air quotes. Roman laughed.

"Oh yeah? What's he gonna do? He's up there and _I'm _down here!" Roman snarked. The deputy let out a short laugh at his usual confidence.

"Just make sure not to get yourself killed in your headstrong," she asked as he held the door to the room open. He waved her off and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm serious Roman, you can't luck your way out of everything," she said. He groaned.

"Okay I'll be careful! Not like Taurus can get out of that kind of security anyways," he stated as he put his hat on the table.

"I was referring to Cinder," Glynda said as she hung her cape over the back of a chair. The two sat back on the couch and sighed in relief. They'd been running around for the last week as they prepared for Amity Colosseum and the incoming crowds of people. Well, Glynda was doing most of the work but Roman had to deal with the kids more as a result.

"Cinder isn't dumb enough to attack Beacon with all her plans in shambles," he claimed, waving his arms around.

"But is she driven enough?" Glynda asked. Roman grimaced at that.

"She might just be," he mumbled. Glynda sighed and squeezed his arm.

"I think we're both in need of some stress relief," she whispered into his ear. He huffed.

"You just told me to stop drinking an hour ago woman, make up your mind!" he whined. She groaned and punched his arm.

"I meant sex you moron!" she growled.

"Oh! Then yes, we are," he said as he slipped his coat off. She rolled her eyes as they kissed. He wasn't always the brightest...

But at least he had spirit.

"Can I be on top this time?" he asked.

"No," she growled as she threw him into the bedroom.

* * *

Elsewhere, Neo had the urge to throw up.

"GOOOO TEAM RWBY! FUCK EM UP!" Nora screamed from the crowd as team RWBY fought in their first round of the tournament. She sat in the middle of her team, and team MMMN was beside them.

"Nora please keep your voice down! There are children behind us!" Ren urged as he received a glare meant for Nora from an angry mother. He smiled and mouthed sorry but she turned her nose up at him.

"Hey man, just do as I do," Mercury consoled as he was sitting next to the boy. Ren raised an eyebrow.

"And what would that be?" he asked the assassin.

"Close your eyes and ignore it all," Mercury said as he leaned back and kicked his feet up. Ren sighed and did the same. Hey, this was easier than dealing with it!

"Hmm, they all separated too early. Clearly this other team is more suited to one on one combat than they are," Melanie stated as she watched the opposing teams hoverboarder glide circles around the arena.

"I agree. While I have full confidence in team RWBY's ability to win, splitting up wasn't their best choice," Pyrrha added. She had learned very quickly that whole the twins weren't the strongest of fighters they had a sharp mind that was shared between them.

"Like, why would they leave Blondie to fight the other Blondie? I get leaving fistfighting to the professionals but ice queen would have handled that chick faster," Miltia added.

Suddenly, as though hearing their criticisms, team RWBY grouped up and started working together as a team.

"Oh I wonder if they're gonna do the thing!" Nora shouted.

"The spinny punchy thing?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah the one where they spin around and then they deliver the POWER!" Nora screamed the last part. As she did, Yang flew fist first into the remaining three members of the team.

"Yeah! Like that!" Nora cheered as the other three were knocked out of the arena.

"_Ohhhh, and that looks like a loss for team ABRN. A shame really, I had money that they would be out sooner," _Roman's voice chimed from the jumbotron. The screens changed from team RWBY and ABRN's displays to a live feed of Roman, Oobleck, and Port all sitting in a row. Roman sat in the middle, and had Chew on his lap, currently dozing off. Many cooed at the dog, others swooned at the thief, Neo wretched at all of them.

"_Now some people have called me biased but prefer 'patriotic' since it makes it sound less immoral," _Roman mused as he scratched behind the dogs ears.

"_Quite! Team RWBY put on a brilliant show!" _Port commended, oobleck nodded and gave the at-home viewers a little catch up. Meanwhile, team MMMN and JNPR had left to get food.

"It's pretty funny seeing Torchwick running the announcements," Jaune said as they walked around the festival grounds. Stalls were everywhere, with vendors shouting their promotions left, right, and center. Rabid fans kept stopping Pyrrha until eventually teams MMMN and JNPR were huddled around the champion, masking her from public eyes.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha apologized as they shuffled towards a noodle stand. Neo scanned the space and saw a familiar red hood.

"Oh! Hey guys!" Ruby said as they all situated themselves.

"Having problems ice queen?" Mer yet asked as the heiress shoved a card away in anger.

"It's... nothing," she said, as she took a deep breath to calm herself. The old man running the stand was playing tug of war with Blake over a tuna bowl.

"Um, I can help with that," Pyrrha said as she offered her card to the man. He let go of the bowl, a grateful and blessed looking Blake that king the champion.

An hour later they had all finished their food. Team JNPR was set to battle team BRNZ next. The topic had shifted to the doubles round however.

"Who do you guys plan on sending in?" Ren asked. Yang thumbed towards herself.

"Me and ice queen here are gonna take home the gold!" she boasted. Weiss humphed.

"As if I'd accept anything less," she claimed. They all turned to MMMN.

"What about you guys?" Ruby asked. Neo smirked and waved while Mercury winked.

"Neo and I are gonna teach these trainees what some street experience is worth," the assassin said, he and Neo sharing a somewhat murdery look.

"Okay just don't like, kill anyone. That'd be hard to explain away," Miltia groaned as she thought over the very real possibility of the two going too far.

"Yeah, you guys were all pretty brutal in your first match. I don't think many teams are looking forward to fighting you," Jaune stated as they all remembered team MMMN's fight.

/\\-/\\-/\

_The crowd watched as the second match of the day began. This one would have the first team from the famed Beacon Academy fighting and people were excited to see who was competing._

_The stage was half a cityscape, and half a desert. The city was full of tight alleys, windows and small buildings that reached up about four stories while the desert side had nothing but dunes of sand. People were in awe of the settings that the arena could create._

_Team MMMN was fighting some team from Haven. Two of them used swords, with one, a thin boy, using a longsword and another, a built girl, using a large great sword. Another boy had a pair of heavy duty pistols with blades on the tops. The last girl, and the leader supposedly, had a bow that split into two shorter blades._

_When the fight began, team MMMN shattered and we're nowhere to be seen._

_"_And there goes team MMMN. Looks like this will be a much... quieter fight than the first bout," _Roman stated as he monitored the fight. Beside him Oobleck nodded._

_"_Quiet indeed! Ms. Politans semblance, Overactive Imagination, allows her to create nigh perfect sedentary illusions!" _the doctor explained for all the civies that watched the festival. People 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the prospect of such a versatile ability._

_All of a sudden, a blaring horn sounded and people looked confused. Upon further inspection, the pistol wielder had been launched out of the arena and disqualified via ring out._

_"_And that looks like the work of our resident Mr. Black! Watch out folks, those boots were made for walking... all over his opponents!" _Port quipped as people watched the young man dash in from an alley at the longsword user. As Mercury kicked at an upwards angle to intercept the overhead slash, the twins leapt from the window of one of the buildings._

_They landed on the shoulders of the great sword user and stomped down in unison, bringing the girl to her knees._

_"Let's dance bitch," Melanie said as the two went to work dodging the powerful slashes of the sword. Each slash that missed carved a chunk from the area floor. Meanwhile, the leader was firing volleys of arrows towards her teammates in order to help them. One struck true and scraped against Mercury's arm, causing him to wince and miss a block. He took a slash across the chest and let the momentum carry him backwards. He made sure to kick and shoot with his boots to send the swordsman back as the assassin flew backwards into a sand dune._

_Melanie went low and swept with her leg, but the force of her kick alone wouldn't bring down the more grounded woman. That's why Miltia had clotheslined the girl across the face in the opposite direction of Melanie's kick, sending the larger girl horizontal for a moment before she crashed to the ground._

_The twins were ready to end their fight quickly when an arrow passed between them. They watched it fly by before turning to the leader who was frozen that her shot missed. She looked shocked at her miscalculation, but the cracking sound of glass broke her out of it, as a mirror image of the twins stood only slightly further away than she had seen. Looks like she'd been fooled._

_From the dunes, Neo ran in, Hush closed but looking... fuller than before. The leader turned to intercept the offender after her missed shot and broke her now into two blades. As she dashed in low, Neo swung her umbrella around and opened it, catching the other girl off guard when the umbrella released a massive cloud of sand into her eyes._

_She screamed and fell back as she grabbed at her face, but Neo didn't like leaving openings. Smirking, she swept in and buried her fist in the leaders stomach before swing her umbrella around and into the girls temple._

_Meanwhile, the longsword user had followed Mercury into the dunes but was rethinking his choices when a sandstorm picked up. As he was buffeted by the storm, a sudden shot was heard. Before he could even think to dodge, the boy took the blast directly to the chest sending him sprawling to the ground. Mercury stepped out of the sandstorm, which was dying down now without his whirling motion. He kicked his boots to rid them of any sand. The assassin looked down on his opponent and smiled._

_"Night night," Mercury chimed before stomping down right into his face. Two horns blared as he finished his opponent off. He looked to see the twins standing over the floored form of the great sword wielder._

_Neo decided to finish things quickly and grabbed the leader by the collar. She lifted the taller girl off her feet and delivered four quick punches right to the girls face, letting go on the fourth ouch and sending the girl face first into the ground. The horn blared one last time and Neo cracked her knuckles._

_"_And team MMMN wins by a landslide! I'd say it was a good fight, but it was more of a slaughter," _Roman claimed as Chew stood and barked at his owner. Neo waved up at the dog, earning 'awwws' from most of the viewers._

_"_Anyways, next is... really? Ironwood named this team? Okay whatever you say man. Next is team FNKI vs team PRPL. Can't believe James named a team 'Funky'," _Roman grumbled._

\/-\/-\/

"And then Mr. Torchwick drank a whole beer in under a minute! Right on the jumbotron!" Nora recounted. They all sighed. Yes be had, and it seemed he and the other two professors were planning on drinking through the breaks as well.

"_Hey! Where's team JNPR!? You little bastards better not be slacking off! What? What do you mean I can't say bastard on live television!? You're sorry!? Yeah well you can go and shove your apology up your ugly as—_" and then the loudspeaker was cut off. Team JNPR stood.

"Well, it looks like we're up," Pyrrha said. Nora hopped up and flexed while Ren just stretched.

_Remember to aim for the groin Jaune, _Neo's scroll told. The boy looked skeptical.

"What if they don't have a dick?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and typed again.

_Everyone can bleed, _she assured. They all laughed and waved the team off.

The festival was just beginning.

* * *

"Roman are you drunk right now," Glynda asked the man. Fights had ended for the day and the two were flying back to Beacon.

"I wish. They wouldn't let Port bring in any of the strong stuff. We were practically drinking piss water up there!" Roman complained. The woman shook her head but laughed nonetheless.

After matches were over, Roman had dumped Chew into Neo's arms before dashing off with Glynda. It was eighty-five percent her dog so she would have him whenever possible!

Currently they were to meet with Ozpin when they got back to Beacon grounds. As the aircraft landed, Roman excused himself to grab his cane from his room. When Glynda gave him a questioning look, he laughed.

"Glynda, anything Ozpin actually cares to give us an hour's worth of warning about means it's serious. I'm not taking any chances," he claimed. She laughed and waved as she departed. He ran and grabbed Melodic Cudgel, and proceeded to stroll back through the courtyard towards the tower.

As he walked, he noticed a commotion and a large crowd. He stepped over to see what was going on. Just as he stepped into the crowd, he saw a familiar face.

"Qrow?" Roman asked. Qrow squinted past whoever he was just talking to and shoved past her, eating a squawk of anger from her.

"Aren't you that guy I was drinking with yesterday?" he asked. Roman nodded.

"And aren't you also that guy on all the wanted posters _and _the announcer for the festival?" he asked again.

"Yeah, I've been trying to get them to take a better mugshot for years. Bastards don't seem to wanna give me a do over!" Roman claimed.

"Huh. Okay," Qrow said simply as he turned right back around and continued harassing the woman from before.

"Why are you so friendly with a criminal, Qrow?" the woman asked. Now that he looked, Roman swore she looked like someone he knew.

"He's not hurting anybody," Qrow slurred. She looked offended at his words.

"His criminal record has ten _known _counts of vehicular manslaughter!" she yelled.

"Hey! Two of those guys were already dead before I hit them!" Roman argued. She glared at him and he looked away and whistled.

"What is your relationship to this criminal?" the woman asked, stabbing a finger his way.

"Uh, actually my record's been wiped and I work here," Roman said as she pointed at him. Her head turned mechanically towards him.

"What did you say?" she asked. Before he could answer Qrow stepped in front of him.

"Hey! Leave my new drinking buddy alone Winter," he managed to say, only sounding a little drunk this time.

"Wait wait wait, Winter as in Schnee?" Roman clarified. Qrow nodded and smirked at the woman.

"Yep! She's daddy's little girl... and Ironwoods little sidepie—" he was cut off when he had to duck to avoid getting his head cut off. Roman put his hands up to try and calm them down. A little aggressive slip was normal among huntsmen.

Roman wasn't prepared for them to start a full on battle in the middle of the courtyard.

"Glynda is gonna be so pissed," he said as he dialed her number. She picked up on the first ring.

"Are you aware—"

"YES I KNOW AND I'M COMING NOW!"

And then she hung up. He shrugged. That was that he supposed. He turned and bumped into Mercury.

"Oh. It's you. What's up you little bastard?" he asked.

"Just watching the festivities," the assassin said. They both turned to watch Qrow rub along the pillars in the courtyard.

"Huh. I feel like I know that guy," Mercury said. Roman humphed but didn't say much else. Just as it seemed that Winter was finally about to get going, a voice stopped her.

"Winter!" Ironwood shouted. She stopped immediately and dropped her attack. Qrow smirked and stuck his tongue out at her.

"General Ironwood sir! I didn't mean to—" he held up a hand to silence her.

"We will discuss this later, Specialist," he said tiredly. She simply nodded and kept her eyes cast down.

"And you," James rounded on Qrow, who lazily looked to the general, "I know I shouldn't have, but I expected better from you."

Qrow shrugged and made his way towards the tower. Ironwood and Winter went along as well, while Roman just stood around.

"Any second now..." he mumbled.

"Oh goddamnit!" Glynda groaned as she inspected the ruined courtyard.

"There it is," he sighed. Looked like they'd be getting to that meeting a little later than initially expected.

He was fine with that. Ironwood was kind of a dick.

* * *

"Hey Neo!"

Said girl turned from Chew, who was currently gnawing on her thumb, to see Nora coming her way. With her she dragged a very exhausted looking Ren, who mouthed 'help me' to the mute girl. She just smiled and shook her head. Nobody could save the boy from the clutches of Nora.

_What's up? _she signed. The two stopped as Nora dropped down to smother Chew. This inadvertently dragged Ren down with her, who landed on the solid ground knees first. He took it remarkably well, only letting out a small 'mmph' of pain.

"Pyrrha got called up to the headmaster's office!" Nora answered, lifting the puppy and boiling his nose with hers. He yipped and wagged his tail.

"We don't know why," Ren said as Neo raised her hand to ask. She dropped it and nodded, content with just sitting with friends and enjoying some downtime as they sat against a wall in the garden.

"Wait, there's Jaune! JAUNE! WE'RE OVER HERE!" Nora screamed as the blonde walked past. He looked and laughed, walking their way.

"Nora, I'm pretty sure the garden is supposed to be a quiet place," Jaune stated as he sat with the other three. Ren sighed. Quiet wasn't in Nora's dictionary.

"It is, thank you for the minor disturbance anyways," a proper voice said. They all looked around before looking over the wall they sat against. Weiss had her face in her hands as Winter looked over at all of them.

"And who might these people be Weiss?" the woman asked as her sister groaned.

"Winter, this is Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Neo. You all, this is my sister, Winter," she introduced properly.

"Uh, hi?" Jaune said with an awkward wave. Ren bowed in apology for disturbing their time, and Nora waved happily. Neo just turned and raised her eyebrows once.

"What are you all doing here?" Weiss asked, trying in vain to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"Neo was here with Chew and the Ren and I showed up and then _I _was playing with Chew and then we saw Jaune and I screamed '_JAUNE WE'RE OVER HERE!_' and then Jaune was like '_I think the garden is supposed to be a quiet place_' and then your sister was like—" Ren placed a hand over Nora's mouth and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Quite," Winter said with a tiny, amused smile, "though allow me to ask; what is a 'Chew'?"

Suddenly, a bark came from Neo's feet. The girl bent down and came back up with the puppy, placing him on the wall so that he could see everyone.

"Ah. That is a Chew," Winter stated as she bent over to look the dog in the eyes. Chew leaned forward and licked her nose.

_Sorry about that, Chew is still new to personal space, _Neo's scroll said. Winter wiped her nose and shook her head.

"It's quite alright, a puppy will do as a puppy does," she said. Neo looked to Weiss and then to Winter. How was Weiss so much colder when they first met than her clearly military sister?

"Ooohhh! What's that!?" Nora asked. She pointed to the white nevermore perched on the table. Winter chuckled.

"That is just another result of the semblance Weiss and I share," Winter told. She held out her finger and the bird came and landed on it without prompting.

"Wow! Weiss can you do it too!? Make a beowolf! No! An ursa! NO! MAKE ME!" Nora rattled off, leaning over the wall more and more to look Weiss in the eyes. The heiress looked away.

"I haven't quite... mastered it yet," Weiss said as she rubbed her arm. Nora deflated immediately.

"Booo," she groaned. Ren nudged her and she jolted up.

"I mean! You can do it!" Nora said with a big smile full of teeth. Jaune slapped his face and Ren sighed a deep sigh that only a man in his place could emit.

"Rest assured Weiss, with more training you'll have the ability to move mountains," Winter stated sagely. Weiss gave her sister a grateful smile. Chew whined and shuffled his feet in place on the wall.

Neo picked him up and he nuzzled into her sheet before resting his head on her shoulder.

"Neo, is Chew getting... bigger?" Weiss asked. Neo raised an eyebrow at her. Weiss groaned.

"I know he's getting older! I mean that for a puppy, and a recently obtained one at that, he seems..." Weiss trailed off before Ren picked up.

"Now that she mentions it, Chew does appear to be above average size for a dog of his breed at this stage in his development," he stated. Neo held the dog out in her arms, hands under his front legs. Chew looked at her and panted. He did seem a little... heftier than he did a few days ago. She wasn't overfeeding him though so what was going on?

"You could always ask Torchwick about it," Jaune suggested. She gave the boy a smile and a nod. The man was the one to get the dog.

"Did you say Torchwick?" Winter asked, immediately tensing. Neo just remembered that Roman and law enforcement didn't really get along.

"Uh, yeah?" Jaune said, sensing the growing agitation.

"Winter, please, while I know Mr. Torchwick isn't the most... savory person," Neo nodded at Weiss's observation, "he had done a great deal to assist us recently."

Winter sighed and glared up at the sky for a moment.

"Weiss, as your sister I will give you the benefit of the doubt. But I won't tolerate any illegal misdeeds he tries," the woman stated.

Neo shrugged. That was the most mature response to Roman being an awful person she'd ever seen! She gave it a seven out of ten.

"At any rate, the growth of your young dog is certainly unique. I've heard stories about dogs that have auras, but you'd have to be incredibly lucky for such a case to happen," Winter stated, sharing what information she had. Neo froze.

Lucky?

_And what exactly would that mean? _Neo asked. Winter hummed.

"Well, as aura does, it means that Chew might be able to fight Grimm with little worry over being hurt in any confrontation. There's also the very low chance that he may gain a semblance," Winter mused. They all gawked at that.

"Dogs can have semblances!?" Nora asked in awe. Winter hummed.

"The only real requirement for aura and semblances is that you are not a Grimm. Humans and faunus are capable of unlocking auras so it's likely that animals that have it unlocked can do something similar," she explained. Neo looked over Chew. She squinted over his form before placing him on the wall again. He whined, not liking the height he was not standing at. She pointed down at the ground.

"Neo! He might get hurt! You can't test this on a speculation!" Weiss insisted. Neo stood strong and pointed down again. Chew looked down before backing up a little. Neo trusted her intuition.

"Arf!" Chew barked before he hopped down. For any other puppy he would've gotten a little roughed up, maybe only a minor injury.

The small sparks of gold at his feet meant that Chew was not just any other puppy.

Sniffing at his paws, Chew yipped before standing up on his hind legs and pressing his front paws into Neo. He wanted to go up again.

"Brothers above he has aura," Jaune whispered as Neo put the dog on the wall again. The puppy jumped again, this time onto the brick flooring on Weiss and Winter's side. Altogether more solid than the dirt he just jumped on.

And again tiny golden sparks at his feet kept him safe.

"No wonder he's growing so fast," Ren mused, "aura can heal the user, and that means muscle tears too. Which means that Chew's aura is inadvertently fixing his muscles whenever he plays."

Neo picked up her dog again. He barked and licked her face. She laughed silently and nuzzled him under her chin. Of course Roman got her a dog with aura. Why wouldn't he?

"I just hope he doesn't start breathing fire, or walking on water, or flying," Jaune said as he eyed the new super dog. Chew looked happy to be held and quickly nuzzled into Neo before closing his eyes and resting.

"Well, this has been eventful," Winter said as she stood to leave.

"Must you go so soon?" Weiss asked, a sad look in her eyes. Neo and team JNR took that moment to leave the sisters be. It was none of their business to interrupt the siblings.

"So Neo! Are you gonna train Chew to fight!? Are you gonna try and find his semblance!? Oh OH! WHAT IF YOU GOT HIM DOGGY ARMOR!?" Nora screamed, progressively getting louder and louder. Neo shook her head, a smile gracing her face. Nora would be Nora. The girl would keep suggesting the most wild ideas she could think of.

But...

Doggy armor didn't sound too bad.

* * *

"I can't believe you'd start a fight in the middle of the courtyard!" Ironwood growled as Qrow shrugged at him.

"She started it!" Qrow said. He was referring to Winter who had been dismissed by the general before Roman and Glynda returned. Glynda looked ready to kill the both of them and had said as much.

"Now Glynda, I'm sure you can forgive Qrow, he's just drunk," Ozpin tried.

"He's always drunk!" Glynda shouted. All present turned to Qrow who was trying to get the last drop of alcohol from his flask to fall into his mouth. As he turned to look at them in sudden realization, the drop fell into his eye instead.

"Ahh! Shit that burns!" Qrow yelled. Glynda rubbed her temples and Roman shook his head. This was Ozpin's eyes and ears? This guy was barely capable of using his own eyes and ears!

"Why are we here Oz?" Roman asked. He and Ironwood shared a look before the general answered.

"Due to the recent attack, we have reason to believe that the queen is making a move. It is our aim to preempt that as best as we can," he stated. Qrow eyes Roman.

"He knows?" the drunk asked, suddenly possessing motor skills and coherent thought again.

"Yes Qrow, and he and Mr. Black have been very helpful to our investigation," Ozpin said. Qrow scowled at the mention of Mercury.

"What the hell Oz, I told you that kid was with the same people who attacked Amber!" Qrow growled.

"Yes, and he is the same person who told us of Cinder's plan to open a breach into central Vale. The two have been helpful and compliant," Ozpin reassured. Qrow huffed but dropped it. Roman didn't get that, how he could blindly trust somebody that easily?

"So what? Are we gonna firebomb the city? Send cops and robots roaming through the street?" Roman asked. Ozpin shook his head.

"No, we must be quiet about all of this. We still do not know the nature of what was done to the CCT the night of the ball, and so we cannot put any unnecessary fear into the hearts and minds of the people," Ozpin said. Ironwood groaned and leaned over to Roman.

"If we had it my way we would use the boys," he whispered. Roman nodded to the man before they both turned their attention back to Ozpin.

"We need the powers of the Fall Maiden elsewhere. Keeping Amber alive is becoming more of a liability every day," Ozpin continued. They all listened attentively, and James stepped forward.

"Do you have someone in mind?" he asked.

"I do. They must be willing, capable, and quick witted. I think the student I've called to my office will suffice," Ozpin answered as the elevator dinged. They all turned to see Pyrrha standing, fidgeting with her hands behind her back.

"You wanted to see me Headmaster?" she asked.

"Yes Ms. Nikos. We have something to discuss," Ozpin started.

"Of course," she answered, a small and hesitant smile on her face as she looked at the company of the room.

"Allow me to ask, Ms. Nikos, what's your favorite fairy tale?" Ozpin asked as he tented his fingers.

* * *

Roman sat in his room with Glynda sat beside him. He was currently thinking about what had just transpired. He can imagine the shock the champion was going through, after all he had a similar reaction.

"Poor girl. She doesn't know what she's gonna do," Roman sighed. Glynda looked to him.

"I wasn't aware you cared so much for Ms. Nikos, or any of the students, really," Glynda said light-heartedly, he chuckled.

"Don't act so surprised. Maybe they've grown on me a little. B-bjt just a little" he amended. She rolled her eyes but didn't tease him anymore.

"I can't say I blame you. It's awful that Ozpin forced the decision on her at such an early stage," she mumbled.

"You knew he was gonna chose her?" the thief asked. She shook her head.

"No, but I speculated. Ozpin is nothing if not driven to win this war he's waging," she started. Roman hummed. That only got him thinking more.

Was he just another part of Ozpin's plan? Was Neo? He shook his head to rid the thoughts. Even if they were he'd find a way for them to get out. He always did. For himself, and for Neo.

Speaking of the devil, Neo had messaged him and said that she had to speak with him. Judging by the random spelling errors, he assumed it was important so he told her to meet him in his room.

A knock sounded and Glynda opened the door with her semblance. Damn that was useful.

Neo stepped in, Chew stumbling in beside her. Seems he still hasn't quite gotten full control over his motor skills. He also looked a little different but Roman couldn't quite figure out why. Glynda seemed to notice immediately.

"Neo, is that... the same dog Roman brought back?" she questioned. Neo nodded.

"He seems a little more... robust than I remember," the deputy claimed. Neo nodded again, this time jabbing a thumb at Roman.

"What did I do?" Roman asked. Neo picked Chew up and held him way above her head. Then without a moment of hesitation, dropped the dog on the floor. Roman's eyes went wide at the display and Glynda choked a little.

"Neo what the hell!?" Roman asked. She shook her head and pointed to the dog. They looked to see him sniffing around like normal.

"Uh, okay, I'm still lost," Roman said. Glynda seemed a little lost as well. Neo did it again, but pointed to the dogs feet this time.

"Okay okay, were watching his feet," Roman grumbled. Neo nodded and ripped the dog again, his paws sparking as they hit the ground. Now their eyes widened.

"Uh, did Chew just spark?" Roman asked.

"Dear God Roman, the dog has aura," Glynda mumbled as she got up and inspected the dog. Being one of the first people he'd ever seen, the dog had taken a real shine to Glynda.

"Huh. Well, at least you can bring him with you on missions now, which means I don't have to dog sit! Score!" he proclaimed. Glynda nudged him and he coughed into his fist.

"I mean, that's cool kiddo, how'd you figure that out?"

Neo rolled her eyes but humored the man anyways.

_We noticed he was big and then I made him jump off a wall, _Neo told simply. Roman just let out a little 'huh' before looking over the dog with Glynda.

"He hasn't done anything wrong though right?" Roman asked. Neo put a finger to her chin before shaking her head.

"Cool! Then it doesn't really matter! And that explains Red's dog..." Roman said as he stood and dusted his hands off. Glynda gave him a look and he sighed.

"Go ahead Glyn, tell me all the reasons this will be an issue," he groaned. She shook her head.

"On the contrary, this will be more beneficial for our line of work. The paperwork is the only downside," the deputy said. He shuddered at the prospect. He was a thief! Kind of. Well whatever he was, be didn't do paperwork!

"Alrighty then, Neo you should run along. I'll... handle that, I suppose," Roman groaned. Glynda nodded to the girl and Neo picked Chew up and departed. She looked the dog in the eyes. He looked back and tried to pick her face. She moved away just in time, causing him to lean forward more and whine. She sighed and brought her face closer, allowing him to lick her cheek. The things she did for love!

"Uh Neo? You okay? You look like you're in pain," a voice said from her left. She turned to see Ruby looking at her in a very confused manner. Neo gave the girl a tired look as the puppy tried chewing on her ear.

"I guess he lives up to his name pretty well, huh?" Ruby laughed. Neo smiled and nodded. It was pretty funny when they'd woken up one morning to find Chew teething on one of Mercury's legs. The boy hadn't even noticed and stayed asleep for another hour before the shower running actually woke him up.

"Weiss was saying something about him earlier," Ruby said as she put a finger to her cheek. Neo nodded.

_The dog had an aura, _Neo's scroll told.

"Huh?" Ruby's thoughts were halted.

Neo just did what she'd been doing and dropped the dog. Ruby yelped but stopped and stared when she saw the tiny sparks fly from the puppy's feet.

"Huh?" Ruby repeated. Neo groaned. Turns out a dog that had the same abilities as a huntsman was a lot more shocking to most people than she first thought.

"Wha?" Ruby tried again. Neo just shook the girl and Ruby snapped out of it.

"Why does Chew have aura?" she asked. Neo shook her head and pointed back towards Roman's room. Ruby just made a little 'o' with her mouth.

"So are you gonna bring him with you on missions when he's older?" the young reaper asked. Neo looked over her dog. He was currently trying to eat Ruby's boots. The girl didn't seem to notice.

_I guess he's got the spirit of a killer under all that fluff, _Neo's scroll spoke. Ruby giggled, and Neo's eyes widened as she remembered something.

_Hey Ruby, _she started, _I was thinking of making some armor for Chew if he's gonna start coming with me._

"Oh, Neo I'm not really a huge armor person..." Ruby trailed off. Neo shook her head.

_I was thinking something a little more on the... offensive side, _she amended. Ruby gave her a sly look before grabbing her hand.

"I think I can help with that," the young Rose said before the two plus one puppy sped off to the school armory. Ruby ran as fast as she could without her semblance, dragging Neo by the hand, the mute girl laughing with her the whole time. One thought pervaded both of their minds.

_Her hand is soft._

* * *

"What's our next move ma'am?" Emerald asked Cinder, who was currently throwing darts at one of Roman's old wanted posters.

"We move ahead like initially expected," she replied, nailing the poster in the eye.

"Even though Mercury and Torchwick have been feeding them information?" Emerald clarified. Cinder chuckled.

"Oh my dear Emerald, they aren't prepared for what's coming. Especially since I just added a new... variable to the plan," she said as a dart hit the poster in between the eyes.

"And that is?" Emerald asked.

"A very large friend who's been asleep for a very long time. And Mercury or Roman don't know a thing about them," Cinder said. In the corner, Illia scoffed.

"And we're supposed to work off of that?" the faunus asked. Emerald turned a glare towards the girl, but Cinder just laughed.

"Don't you worry your little head my dear freedom fighter. This friend of mine is... mountainous in size," she whispered.

"What, is it a dragon or something?" Illia asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, that's be the stupidest plan someone could come up with! They have an entire school and kingdom of hunters and huntresses and even in the event that most of them are occupied, it'd be incredibly lucky if something as big and obvious as a dragon could make into Beacon before being taken down!" Emerald argued. Illia shrugged.

"That's about as stupid as continually challenging the same people who foil your plans over and over again, and expecting a slight change in what you're doing to somehow make the plan work completely different. Like if instead of trying to fight someone who could shoot lasers out of their eyes you tried to fight someone who could make a giant sword and control the elements!" Illia mused.

Cinder meanwhile had frozen.

"Do... do you really think a dragon wouldn't work?" she asked the two. They both laughed.

"I know Adam, and while I... "respect" him, I hardly think he'll be able to initiate the hack for as long as you need before his arrogance gets him killed. By that point they'd have the entire Atlas armada back and anything as big as a dragon would get shot down," Illia said. Emerald nodded along.

"Yeah, I don't really trust Adam to do... well, anything right, really," she said. Illia sighed and agreed.

"But... if we did have a dragon, even against all these odds and _maybe _somebody with laser eyes, we'd probably still come out victorious, right?" the woman asked. The two laughed.

"Ma'am, I didn't know you were such a comedian!" Emerald laughed, "Besides, a Grimm dragon? That's kinda lame."

Cinder meanwhile was going through an internal crisis. None of that was true right? Her plan was fool proof and she had all her grounds covered.

_Dragons aren't lame, _she repeated to herself over and over. This would work fine.

Beacon would need a lot of luck to win this battle.

* * *

**Well, I agree that dragons aren't lame, but a dragon that's trapped in a mountain and then gets cucked two episodes after it's release?**

**That's pretty lame. Wish it was around longer.**

**Also yeah, I'm hard on Cinder but really it's all for comedic effect. I don't **_**like **_**Cinder, and she's definitely not a riveting villain, but then, none of the villains in RWBY really are.**

**Seriously our lineup is:**

**-Crazy megalomaniac**

**-No legs Larry**

**-Street rat with style**

**-Boring scientist**

**-Big Guy(tm)**

**-Stereotypical crazy guy**

**-Witch**

**-Ozpin?**

**-Neo (from the Matrix)**

**-Sometimes Raven**

**-Qrow's alcoholism**

**-A dead incel**

**-The unstoppable tide of Atlas**

**-Weiss's patriarchy**

**-My Chemical Romans**

**-The RWBY Fandom**

**Not the best characters, sans Neo (and she doesn't even speak, maybe that's the secret) and Roman who I obviously am biased toward but is still not a great character in the show.**

**At any rate, have a wonderful time!**

**And don't even think about biting off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Ruby and Neo are bad with feelings**

Ruby and Neo were currently sitting together on a couch in the rec room. Chew was asleep from a long day of testing his new aura, and so Neo had precious free time that she was going to spend relaxing.

After all, taking care of Chew was like taking care of a child. He required attention, food, and often would find ways to almost hurt himself, especially now since he was starting to think he was invincible due to his aura.

Neo had her head resting on Ruby's legs. The two were sprawled out along the couch, and Neo found the girls legs softer than the pillows.

"Hey Neo, I feel like I saw Jaune and Pyrrha doing something like this a while ago," Ruby said suddenly. Neo answered quickly.

_That's probably because they're dating, _she said. Ruby hummed and spoke again.

"And this is what people do when they date?" the young reaper asked. Neo shook her head as she looked up into the eyes of the younger girl from her lap pillow.

_No, people only really do this if they both like each other enough, _Neo's scroll told. They were silent for a bit after that.

"Does... that mean we like each other enough?" Ruby asked, a hint of color to her face. Neo was gaining a slight blush herself.

_I think that depends really, _Neo replied. The two were quiet again.

"And... if we did?" Ruby asked. Neo blinked, not realizing just how long the two had been staring into each other's eyes.

_That'd be pretty cool, _Neo's scroll toned quietly. The two just looked at each other, both slowly getting closer to one another. They were only a breaths length apart now, both nearing the other—

"Hey Neo! Have you seen Jaune!? He needs to help me cheer up Pyrrha and I can't— oh. I'm so sorry!" Nora shouted as she bolted out of the room. Neo and Ruby shot apart and Neo fell off of the girl and onto the floor, both a bright red.

"So uh, anyways Neo I'll catch you around!" Ruby said as she stood. Neo stood as well, and waved, an awkward smile on her face. They both just stood there however, not moving. Then, just as Neo was about to grab Chew...

_Mwah!_

And then in a blur Ruby was gone, only rose petals fluttering down signifying that she'd been there in the first place. Chew woke up at the sudden disturbance and walked over to Neo. He looked up at her and cocked his head to the side.

Neo just stood there frozen, eyes wide and mouth perked from where the young Rose had just pecked her. Chew barked and she looked down at him. Then a wobbly smile made its way into her face as she bent down to pick him up. One thought was going through her head.

_Fuck. Yes._


	15. Chapter 15

**We're just gonna get into it! I'll see y'all at the bottom!**

* * *

Pyrrha was not happy.

Scratch that, Pyrrha could be what many considered, incredibly unhappy. Most people probably would be if they just saw and learned what she had.

She rubbed her temples as she thought of everything she had going for her right now. She had great friends who cared for her and made her feel like she was a real person and not just some face with a name.

Then she had her not as great friends who may or may not have still been accepting of her but also did a lot of illegal things after classes. She didn't want to know where Mercury had gotten her the earrings he'd given her for her birthday, but she knew he didn't pay for them since she was given both pieces of jewelry individually.

Then there was this. And by this, she meant the person she was currently sitting with against a wall near the courtyard.

"Pyrrha, you sure you're okay?" Jaune asked. Yes, Pyrrha and Jaune had formed a blooming relationship. She smiled internally as she thanked Neo for that. If only she could do the same with a certain reaper...

"No, Jaune. I'm not okay. I'm very not okay," Pyrrha sighed. She couldn't tell him why though. She'd promised the headmaster, and even if she hadn't, such information wasn't something she wanted to dump on someone so close to her.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked. As much as the nice side of Pyrrha wanted to say yes, the realistic side of Pyrrha said no. Nobody could really do anything in this situation except for her.

"Don't worry yourself with it Jaune. Let's just enjoy the moment," she said as she leaned on his shoulder. He sighed but leaned into her, the two staring off at the sunset behind the CCT.

"You know if there's anything wrong, you can tell me right?" he stated suddenly. She smiled and placed a hand on his chest.

"I know Jaune. And I trust you. But this isn't something that's easily solved," she sighed. He frowned.

"Try me," he said stubbornly. She was a little surprised by the sudden intensity of his request. She looked around. Maybe she could tell him without telling him?

"Well... what if you were told that there was something big coming. Something bigger than any of us could imagine?" she asked. He hummed but remained silent.

"But you were given the option to save a lot of people by taking on something equally as big, but it would cost everything that makes you... you," she explained, the unhappiness from before coming back in waves now.

"Are you asking what I'd do or what the right answer is?" he asked. Her thoughts were halted.

"What do you mean?" she asked. He smiled.

"Well there's an obvious answer and a not so obvious answer," he said confidently. She tilted her head at him. She was too stressed to fully understand what he meant.

"The obvious answer is that I'd obviously choose to save as many as I could, even if it cost me my life," he said. She hadn't exactly meant she'd _die _but she supposed the sentiment was all the same.

"And the not so obvious answer?" she asked. He smiled at her.

"Well, even if it's selfish, I can't see myself anywhere but beside you," he said, barely blushing. Pyrrha, on the other hand was coloring very fast.

"A-and you'd risk the lives of so many others for me?" she asked. He looked away for a moment before meeting her eyes again.

"Well, who said you had to do it alone?" he answered her question with another, equally confounding one.

"I..." didn't know. Why was she trying to do everything alone? Sure Ozpin said she couldn't tell anyone, but he also gave her a choice.

If anything, the _best _choice was to say no and work in a group! Who thought that one person was the best bet against another single person!? Pyrrha prided herself on her combat abilities, and while she knew that numbers didn't always mean an assured victory, having multiple skilled people who could communicate well was better than fighting alone.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said with determination. He looked to her, happy to see her sadness replaced.

"What do you need Pyr?" he said. She looked ahead of her for a moment, before smiling.

"Call teams RWBY and MMMN. I have something that I think we need to talk about," she stated.

"If you say so," he said as he messaged the two leaders. As always Ruby replied in a second. Neo followed shortly. They said they'd rally their teams and meet them at the JNPR dorm.

"They're on their way," he told her.

"Good. Then let us join them," she said as they stood. She turned away, but stopped. Jaune nearly bumped into her back.

"Pyrrha? You oka—" she quickly spun around and kissed him. He was surprised, but it wasn't the first time they'd done so and so it faded quickly.

"Thank you Jaune," she said as she pressed her forehead to his. He smiled.

"Anytime Pyr."

* * *

"Roman?"

"Yes Glyn?"

"What are we looking at?" the deputy asked. Currently she, Qrow, and Ozpin were looking at a device that the thief had made.

"It's a super bomb," Roman stated, hands in his pockets. Qrow looked over to Ozpin.

"Did you put him up to this Oz?" Qrow asked. The headmaster shook his head, eying the bomb warily.

"I did not. Roman, why did you find it necessary to make such a thing? And why show us but not James?" Ozpin asked. Roman wiped some smudges off the hull of the bomb. The device wasn't that large, about the size of a trash can. It was black and silver and had a number pad on one of the faces.

"I got a tingle in my right leg last night Ozpin. That means that something needs to be or will need to be exploded. These senses are never wrong," Roman explained. The other adults all just stared at the man.

"And you don't want James to know about this why?" Glynda asked, stepping forward and inspecting the device closer.

"Uh, let's just say that Atlas and I may have some, er uh, let's call them 'insurmountable philosophical disagreements,' about the amount of force this thing packs," Roman said as he looked away. They all sighed.

"Roman, why would we need a nuke?" Ozpin asked. The thief just threw his hands up.

"Look around Oz! If what you've told us is true, then I doubt Cinder's just gonna submit and let everything go! We need a contingency plan. One that isn't floating above our heads," Roman argued. Qrow nodded along at his point. The armada above Vale wasn't exactly the most comforting thing. And even if there was an attack, what were the ships going to do? The weapons on one of the larger warships would level the city if they were used.

"I suppose your reasoning is sound but this just seems... unnecessarily extreme," Ozpin stated back.

"Yeah, but what if Cinder brings in an army of Grimm and terrorists!? We can't fight them all off until they surrender!" Roman claimed.

"He's right Ozpin, we have no way of telling what we might be up against. If the maiden is what they're after, there's no telling what they'll do to obtain that power," Glynda said as she adjusted her glasses. Ozpin hummed.

"I suppose that any plan is a valued one. Just so long as we don't end up blowing any of the students to kingdom come," Ozpin warned. Roman gave him a lazy salute.

"Speaking of maidens, what do we think about the candidate?" Qrow asked. Roman huffed and Glynda layer a light touch on his arm.

"I can't say I like the idea of shoving someone else's soul into a kid," Roman groaned. Qrow understood the man. Understood, but didn't agree.

"We have to put it somewhere. Leaving it in Amber and keeping her under the school is only prolonging the inevitable. At least if it's in a cognizant person they'll have to look a little harder," Qrow rasped. Roman sighed and shook it off.

"Roman I know this isn't the battle you signed up for," Ozpin started, "but we need all the help we can get, and if that means we have to reach out to students, then that's a risk I'm willing to take."

Roman eyed the man and put a hand to his face.

"Oz, I barely signed up for this," Roman groaned. Qrow chuckled and Glynda rolled her eyes.

"Yes, well all the same you are in for a fight now," Ozpin assured. He turned to leave.

"Now, do try and keep this bomb hidden. I don't want James storming my office mid conniption fit," Ozpin asked before he left. Qrow waved and followed.

"Roman, do you really think we'll need this?" Glynda asked, a worried look gracing her features.

"Who knows anymore Glyn. I'm almost considering that there really is some giant Grimm coming our way," the thief sighed. The two shared a brief moment of silence before leaving the room as well.

The room in question, one may ask? An old janitorial closet in Beacon tower. Nobody would suspect a thing.

* * *

"So, why were we all called here?" Yang asked. Currently, the twelve of them were crammed in team JNPR's dorm. Pyrrha and Jaune were sitting central of everyone else. Neo and Ruby were sitting with Chew, who was licking the young reapers hand. Nora was closer to Neo though, and was smothering the dog.

"I need to tell you all something. Something big," Pyrrha said. They all honed in on her serious tone and gave her their attention.

"What's going on Pyrrha?" Ruby asked. The champion closed her eyes for a moment, debating on how to drop the bomb she had.

"Do you recall when Ozpin asked for me the other day?" Pyrrha started suddenly. They all gave some form of confirmation.

"Well... I learned something from that meeting. Something... magical, in nature," she said. They all looked skeptical now, with the exception of Neo and Mercury, who were wide eyed.

"Magical?" Ren asked. The rest nodded with the question.

"Yes. Magical. And I think it's better if I explain what happened," Pyrrha stated, "so allow me to ask, how much do you know about the Story of the Seasons?"

And then she dropped the bomb.

/\\-\/-/\

"You... you're joking," Blake mumbled out. Pyrrha stated resolute and stared the girl down.

"You're not joking," the faunus whispered. It could be heard around the room, considering how silent everyone was.

"This... this can't be right," Weiss tried, "there's no way that something like this exists!"

"Try telling that to the woman in the coffin downstairs," Pyrrha said calmly. They all looked to one another. Finally, Mercury sighed.

"I knew," he said. They all looked to him, team RWBY looking suspicious.

"You said that your boss, Cinder was it?" Weiss stopped to let him nod before continuing, "You said she didn't tell you any more than Mountain Glenn."

He sighed and looked around them.

"Remember when I said we should've left this to the professionals? This is why!" he claimed.

"And how do you know about this... maiden?" Blake asked, eyes narrowed at the assassin. He looked unfazed.

"I helped get her into the deathtrap in the basement," he stated. They gasped, Yang clenching her fists and her eyes starting to shift.

"What were you thinking!?" she yelled at the young man. He sighed and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter what I was thinking, it matters that it was done," he said. They all stared before Neo started typing.

_Roman told me a few weeks ago, _her scroll said. Ruby gasped.

"Neo, you knew too?" Ruby asked, a hurt look crossing her features. Neo winced.

_He told me not to tell anyone. Evidently, Pyrrha didn't get the same message, _Neo said as she turned the champion. Pyrrha had the decency to _look _bashful.

"I did but... I had a little guidance from someone not to try and handle this alone," she said as she leaned into Jaune. He blushed and chuckled.

"So, magic is real and there's a crazy lady trying to steal magic from a half dead body in the basement under the school and Ozpin and a bunch of other adults wanna try and make you magical too but it might make you a husk of who you used to be!?" Nora shouted and asked at once. Pyrrha coughed into her fist.

"Um, yes. That sums it up pretty well," Pyrrha said. They all took a collective breath.

"So what do we do?" Ruby asked. They were all silent before the twins chimed in.

"What _can _we do?" Miltia asked.

"Yeah, I mean, if we say we know anything or even show that we know what's going on, we might get cuffed by Atlas," Melanie added. They all were quiet at the observation.

"Mercury, do you know where Cinder plans on striking?" Ruby asked. The boy stared at her before he chuckled softly.

"You never change do you?" he asked. She just kept staring at him. He sighed, realizing she wasn't going to budge on the matter.

"Cinder planned to cause a panic during the fights," he began, "but with all the wrenches we've thrown in her plan, I'm not sure anymore. By this point she's had to have caught on that Roman, Neo, and I are feeding Ozpin information."

"So we know that she plans on striking within the next three days," Ruby confirmed. Mercury shook his head.

"That was the plan. Who knows what it is now," he said. They all thought.

"Well, what about Taurus?" Jaune asked out of the blue. They all looked to him, but Blake was the first to react.

"What do you mean?" she asked quickly.

"Well, think about it. If Taurus was running the operations around Vale, then she lost her figurehead, right?" the blonde asked. Mercury cut in again.

"No. Cinder will have tried to hack into the CCT by this point. I think that's what Ruby and Neo stepped in on the night of the dance," he said. Ruby and Neo looked to one another.

"And if that's what happened before we got up there, then they already have their hands in the CCT," Ruby confirmed. Mercury nodded. They all shuddered. If Cinder had the CCT under her control, then it would be all but impossible to try and signal for help when she attacked.

"Why can't we just tell Ironwood?" Yang asked. It was Weiss who answered this time.

"General Ironwood isn't someone who would take kindly to us being in the know of this information," the heiress stated.

"How unkindly?" Melanie asked.

"How do you fancy being stuck in that Atlas warship with Adam Taurus?" Weiss asked. They all sighed.

"So I guess the best we can do is be ready," Ruby stated.

"Pretty much. Even I don't know what Cinder's planning by this point," Mercury said. They all were quiet for a while before Pyrrha broke the silence.

"What do I tell Ozpin?" she asked. They all thought about it. There was no way they were letting Pyrrha sacrifice her soul just to take in some magic.

"You say no," Jaune said simply. She looked at him and he took that as a chance to explain.

"Well, he technically gave you a choice. Even if it's been set up to make it seem like your only option is yes, he did say it was up to you," the leader said.

"But what if I don't take it and Cinder gets to it?" Pyrrha asked. Clearly the situation had been stressing the champion out, not that anyone could blame her.

"Then we all stop her together," Ruby said with a steely look in her eyes.

"What!?" Mercury shouted, "Look, I know Cinder okay? And I know that she will burn us alive if we get her way! The best we can do is evacuate when she starts tearing the kingdom apart!"

"But if nobody stops her from getting the maiden powers then what will she do!?" Yang shouted back. Chew started to whine and Neo was trying to calm the dog.

"She'll burn the whole kingdom down and everyone in it!" he argued. Everyone was getting tense now.

"But we can't just let Vale burn! There are thousands upon thousands of people here!" Weiss said.

"But what can we even do to somebody with that kind of power!?" Miltia shouted. They were all just telling now, trying to find out what could be done.

Then somebody broke the silence.

"**BARK!**"

The room shook, and things fell off shelves as the bark reverberated around the room.

Chew sat on Neo's lap, a sour look on his face. They all stared in shock as the dog looked to humph before curling up on Neo's legs.

"Ow," Blake winced as she rubbed her ears.

"What!?" Nora shouted, having been sitting closest to Neo. Neo herself looked like a ghost, and was frozen still.

"Well, I suppose that one way to get the room back together," Yang groaned.

"Yeah seriously," Ren said, already feeling the headache coming on.

"Neo, you okay?" Ruby asked. Neo nodded slowly, regaining her senses.

"Okay, so what happens now? We all know that the kingdom is in danger but we don't know when the danger is coming," Yang said.

"But we know what they were planning," Mercury said quietly.

"Which was?" Weiss asked.

"Originally, Cinder planned on getting Roman to help her. Once she got the breach to happen, he was supposed to get arrested and would take over one of the Atlas military warships and hack the Atlas androids. Obviously, that isn't the case now," Mercury said.

"But wouldn't Adam be the one doing it now instead?" Blake questioned.

"No doubt he is. The issue is that Adam was supposed to send Grimm and White Fang soldiers into Beacon to distract everyone while Cinder got the rest of the maiden. With Adam up there, I don't know what's happening down here," Mercury said as he stated out the window and up at the large fleet above them.

"What about Amity Colosseum?" Miltia asked, "There are thousands of people who are gonna be on that thing during the fights!"

"And Cinder wants to broadcast some terrible accident and play it up for the masses so that Grimm flood the city," Mercury said.

"Only now we know about her and she can't get near Amity," Ruby said. Mercury nodded.

"Ironwood wouldn't let her out in the streets, let alone near the Colosseum," he answered.

"So we need to be ready during the finals rounds for shit to hit the fan," Melanie confirmed.

"It's all we can do by this point," Mercury stated. They all went silent, before a gentle snore caught their attention. They all looked to Neo, where Chew had fallen asleep. She smiled down at him and hoisted him up. Her team rose with her.

"I suppose for now, we just wait and prepare," Mercury said. They all nodded to each other before departing to their respective rooms. As they left, Ruby caught Neo by the arm.

"Neo, we need to talk," the young reaper said. The mute girl nodded and handed her dog to Melanie. The twins sent her a kissy face which she responded with a middle finger.

Ruby lead Neo out to the roof. They sat there in silence for a little bit.

"So you and Roman really were just criminals, weren't you?" Ruby suddenly asked. Neo stilled and her eyes slowly moved to Ruby. The girl was staring her dead in the eyes.

"I guess that's a yes," Ruby sighed. Neo looked away. She didn't want Ruby thinking she was still a bad person! She'd changed! Roman too!

"That's okay," Ruby said suddenly, causing Neo to whip back to her. Ruby giggled.

"Well, I can't say I approve," Ruby scolded, wagging a finger at her, "but I've been with you these past few months and I've seen the person you are. You and Roman. You're both just survivors."

Neo's heart was beating now. She didn't know what she should say now.

"Calm down Neo! You're not normally this jumpy!" Ruby said. Neo tried to laugh it off but this was different! She didn't really know why though.

Ruby suddenly hugged the girl. Neo melted into it almost immediately. Oh right, that was why.

"Are you relaxed now?" Ruby asked, a small blush across her face. No, Neo noted, she absolutely wasn't, but she nodded anyways.

"Good," Ruby said as she broke away. Neo pouted as she left the embrace.

"Pretty crazy that we could've ended up fighting against one another right?" Ruby said awkwardly. Neo nodded. She couldn't fathom the thought of having to kill Ruby now.

"And now it looks like we might be nearing something way too big for us," Ruby said as she looked up at the moon. Neo looked with her. That was true. There was a strong chance that life was about to get a lot harder if the people in charge didn't get serious about things.

"But if things do go south promise me something?" Ruby said. Neo looked her in the eyes and they were face to face. She nodded.

"Promise that you'll stay with me?" she asked. Neo swallowed. Before this, the only person she'd promise anything was Roman. Before this she'd only ever stay with Roman. Before this it was just her and Roman.

But that was all before she and Roman stumbled into Beacon. And even though they had tried to deny the life, it was obvious they'd both changed.

She nodded. Ruby smiled and leaned forward, pressing her forehead to hers. She took a deep breath before coming up and smiling at the girl.

Neo's breath hitched. Ruby's did too. Their noses were practically touching.

"Thank you," Ruby whispered. And then she leaned forward into Neo.

And it was everything that Neo wanted.

* * *

Roman jolted in place, looking around with narrowed eyes.

"Roman? What's wrong?" Glynda asked from next to him. He sighed and leaned forward from the couch.

"I... don't think so," he mumbled, "my bad idea senses are tingling though."

"Are you the one making a bad decision?" she asked with a deadpan expression. He laughed.

"Hey! Just because I frequently and consistently make bad decisions doesn't mean other people can't make them too!" he defended. She laughed with him.

"I suppose not. Then who do you think is making poor life choices right now?" the deputy questioned as she leaned into his shoulder.

"I think it's Neo. And I think she just made a lot of bad choices all at once," he mused. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Have you always been able to tell these things?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nah, it comes with familiarity. After a year or two of being together I kinda just developed it," he claimed. She hummed.

"Funny, I have something similar for the students and you," she added. He squawked indignantly.

"Hey! Why am I grouped with the kids!?" he whined. She laughed at his reaction.

"Be wise much like the students, you find a way into things much bigger than yourself," she answered. He pouted and she laughed again.

"Well, one things for sure, Neo just agreed to something and I know I won't like it," he grumbled. The deputy shook her head. He knew better than anyone else she supposed.

"I must ask though," Glynda suddenly started, drawing his attention, "where did you get the materials required to make a bomb of that caliber?"

"Hey, just because I work here doesn't mean I don't still have some... ties on the other side, so to speak," he said as he looked away. She groaned.

"Roman, please refrain from purchasing illegal materials off of the black market," she pleaded before stressing, "_especially _not to make a bomb."

"Ugh, fiiiine," he intoned. She punched his arm for the attitude and he laughed.

"What would we even do with a nuke?" she asked. He hummed.

"I'm still betting on the dragon thing," Roman said as he checked his nails. She sighed. He and Bart had been arguing about the possibility of a large Grimm dragon being hidden inside a mountain near Vale. It was as ridiculous as it sounded, but Roman was sure it existed.

"Hey! Don't give me that look! When the dragon comes you'll all be thanking me!" Roman claimed. She rolled her eyes and calmed the man down.

"Yes yes, and when that happens I'm sure Bart will give you that doctorate," she said with a sly smile. He groaned at her.

"You laugh now, but when I'm _Doctor _Torchwick nobody will be laughing but me!" he shouted. She laughed and he laughed with her. Times like this helped forget about the war looming overhead.

* * *

"Fascinating..." Oobleck mumbled.

He and Roman were currently looking over Chew with Glynda. Neo and Ruby sat off to the side as they inspected the dog.

"Roman, I didn't know you knew anything about veterinary science!" Ruby proclaimed. He looked around before focusing on the dog again.

"Yeah well uh, let's just say you can get a degree in anything if you know where to look," Roman grumbled. He also _technically_ had a degree in political science, applied holistic psychology, biology, and a minor in clown college. He was gunning for that doctorate from Bart though...

"I must say, this is very interesting! Chew here has a fully functioning aura, and seems capable of channeling it in short bursts!" Oobleck observed as he tapped the dogs hind leg joints. Each time they gave a small glow that confirmed the presence of aura.

"Yeah he used it to bark _really _loud last night," Ruby said. Oobleck hummed and open the dogs mouth, looking inside and lifting his tongue. Chew seemed happy with the attention.

"Interesting. He's developed teeth that are much more befitting of a hunting dog in their prime! Tell me, does he teeth a lot?" Bart asked Neo. The mute girl nodded and he mumbled more 'fascinatings' before checking back on the dog.

"It's possible that Chew here could be a fully functioning huntsman companion dog in just under a year!" he announced. Ruby gasped and grabbed Neo's hands.

"NEO THE DOGGY ARMOR IS A GO!" Ruby shouted. Neo laughed at the young reapers excitement.

"Huh, guess that takes care of any dog sitting fees we'd have to had paid," Roman said. Score!

"Yes but that means that someone will have to oversee Chew's training both alone and with others," Glynda added. Roman groaned. Minus one point.

"Yes, but that is easily amended! Most domestic dogs already have the instinct to hunt with humans! There should be no issue with Chew's ability to learn quickly if his rapid development means anything!" Oobleck continued. Score again!

"Neo! Imagine the possibilities of working with a companion dog!" Ruby shouted. Neo thought about it but Roman added another point.

"You know this guys gonna be like three feet tall on all fours when he's older right? Which means he'll be taller than both you and Red when he stands up," Roman pointed out. Neo looked excited at the prospect. He didn't like the smile on her face.

"Oh Lord, just try not to ride him into battle? He's a dog, not a horse," Roman tried. The look in Neo and Ruby's eyes said they had already designed a saddle and had no plans of changing that. He sighed. The poor baby. The dog, that was.

"If he really did cause such an effect with one bark, than that means he may very likely have a semblance floating around in him somewhere," Oobleck concluded, standing and dusting fur off his shirt.

"And if he barks like that on school grounds after hours then I expect one of you to be held responsible," Glynda said as she stared down Roman and Neo.

"Wha— it's not even my dog!?" Roman whined. Glynda gave him a look and he groaned.

"Yes _dear, _if the situation arises I shall be the one responsible. Unless Neo is closer and then it's fair game," he said quickly. Neo looked affronted and the two entered a silent argument.

"Very well, if that is all, I shall be off!" Bart claimed as he turned and disappeared out the door. Ruby grabbed Chew off the table and held him against her chest with one hand, using the other to drag Neo away. She and Roman stuck their tongues out at one another and Ruby giggled at their antics.

"Well, I suppose we should get ready. The finals are starting in a few hours and we must be ready at Amity," Glynda said. Roman sighed.

"I got a bad feeling Glyn, and I have a bunch that it'll get worse the closer we get to that Colosseum," the thief claimed as the two left towards the air shuttles.

"I can't say I blame you. But if they intend to strike during the festival, today or tomorrow is their last chance. The finals will go by quickly," she mused. He hummed, but she knew he was already thinking about what would go wrong.

"Let's just hope, yeah?" he said. She thought that it was a little late for hope and told him so.

He agreed wholeheartedly. Hope was gone by this point, tension was all that remained now.

* * *

"Ma'am," Emerald said calmly. Cinder looked over to her.

"We're ready to move on your mark. Illia has the troops rallied and the hack from your associate worked; we have access to the cell holding Taurus," Emerald continued. Cinder hummed.

"Then I only have to find out who our lucky sacrificial lamb will be," Cinder said as she looked over the roster for the finals round of students.

"May I make a suggestion?" Emerald asked. Cinder quirked a brow at her. It was unlike Emerald to be so bold as to propose an idea.

"You may," Cinder allowed. Emerald bowed her head before speaking.

"What if we... encouraged the match between these two?" Emerald asked as she pointed to the two students. Cinder hummed before it morphed into a chuckle.

"I think I see where you're going with this," she claimed as she typed in a command, locking the two students names in.

"I'll make sure to do my part," Emerald promised.

"Do try to stay low? We wouldn't want any interruptions to this little bout," Cinder chuckled. Emerald nodded and left the room. Cinder looked up at the war machine flying overhead.

"Soon I will have what is mine, and I'll make sure they all burn once I have it," Cinder stated as she stood. As she walked out of the room, the display on her scroll faded. The faces of the two students was still barely visible. The matchup could still be seen.

_Finals round: Penny Polendina VS Neo Politan._

"Make sure this sends Roman a message Emerald. I want him to remember this."

* * *

**A shorter chapter, so sorry if you were expecting longer. This is mostly setting up for the next one or two chapters and I didn't wanna cram anything.**

**Have a happy Thanksgiving to all my readers in the states! And to everyone else have a lovely time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Chew The Destroyer**

Nora was currently at a stalemate with one of the greatest adversaries she'd ever met.

"Borf!"

Yes, indeed. His cunning and guile were too much for even the likes of Ozpin or Ironwood.

"Woof!"

His strength and volume were unmatched by even the largest and deadliest of Grimm!

Chew sneezed and looked up at Nora, who had been tasked with watching him while Ruby and Neo got food. She had volunteered, but didn't know that the dog would be so... devious.

"Unhand those you fiend! In the name of the queen!" Nora shouted, a finger pointed between the dogs eyes.

"Bark bark!" Chew looked happy at the attention.

"No! They're mine! You can get your own!" Nora shouted back, trying to slowly sneak a hand towards the stolen object.

"**BORK!**" Chew barked and shook the room, sending Nora backwards into her ass.

"You dare raise your voice at me!?" she screamed back, "Unhand Sir Slothington or face my wrath!"

Chew seemed to think the situation was all a game and chewed on the large sloth plush more.

"Very well, I will use force then," Nora said as she rolled up her sleeves, "EN GARDE!"

* * *

"Nora? What are you doing on the floor? And why is Chew on all of our beds?" Ren asked as he, Jaune, and Pyrrha walked back into their rooms. Chew sat snug on all four of their beds, which had been pushed together.

Nora lay on the floor, a hollow look in her eyes.

"He didn't just win the battle Ren. He won the war, and then he won the post-war reelection, followed by a complete overhaul of the economy," Nora mumbled.

"Uh... what?" Pyrrha tried. Truly that was the only response to the situation.

"I'm no queen. No. What is a queen in the presence of... _a god?_" Nora whispered. The other three all looked among each other.

"Chew, down," Jaune commanded. Chew yipped and hopped down, bringing Sir Slothington with him.

"Drop it boy!" Pyrrha cooed. Chew yipped once more and dropped the plush.

"You've appeased his wrath. Any god would be satisfied with new worshippers," Nora said as she watched.

"Nora, maybe you should take a nap," Ren proposed.

"If I sleep, he will take the chance and cull me! My eyes must never leave him," she growled. Chew turned to her and ran to the downed girl. He barked and licked her face.

"Now he's got a taste for human blood! AND I AM THE FIRST VICTIM!" Nora screed as she bolted out the room.

Chew looked up at the remaining three and barked twice. Pyrrha crouched down and scratched under his chin, giving him baby talk the whole time.

"You think we should tell Neo about this?" Jaune asked. Ren stared off for a while before looking down at the puppy. The two met eyes, and if one had been paying attention, would've noted the subtle nod they shared.

"I think we should keep this to ourselves," Ren said as he lifted the puppy up.

"I'll return him now," he claimed as he left the room as well. Once outside and around the corner he looks the dog in the eyes.

"What secrets do you hold?" he mumbled. Chew yipped and licked his nose. Ren sniffed.

"Hm. Smells like chicken."

"Bark!"


	16. Chapter 16

**See y'all at the bottom.**

* * *

"_Alright what little brats— er I mean uh, _angels _are fighting next?_" Roman asked form the announcers booth. People laughed at the thiefs slip up, but many of the students booed the man.

"_The finals matches are determined at random! Let's check the wheel for the first two contestants!_" Peter exclaimed. The audience turned their attention to the monitor which had two panels spinning rapidly.

"_This is a special case this year folks! We have not one, not two, but three finalists from Beacon in this year's festival!_" Bart yelled. Indeed, Neo, Yang, and Pyrrha all stood among the finalists in the arena.

"_Suck it James! I mean, It's all in good fun, so it's not that important!_" Peter amended. The Atlas crowd didn't seem very enthused by the blatant homefield bias.

Suddenly the two dials stopped and dinged, signaling that the next contestants had been decided.

"_And our first match of the semifinals is Yang Xiao Long versus Sun Wukong! Wow that was a mouthful!_" Roman said as he looked back over the names.

The two blondes exchanged a look and sent each other finger guns. The other finalists cleared the arena and the two fighters walked to opposite ends of the platform. They stretched and got into stance as the crowd around chanted their support.

"_Are the combatants ready?_" Bart asked. The two fighters sent a hand up and the three men hit some buttons in the booth.

"_Then on your marks... get set... FIGHT!_" Peter bellowed. The two blondes dashed across the arena as the crowd screamed. Yang flew through the air, having launched herself with a quick backwards blast. Sun had simply run, but his speed was quickly matching the brawlers. The two met in the middle with a powerful trading of blows, the sound of the impact ringing throughout the stadium.

Sun had met Yang's fist with a straight jab of his staff. As she backed off to gain ground, he leaned forward and followed after, prodding and spinning with his staff as he scored shallow strikes across her arms.

She threw her right arm out and deflected the next blow, ducking and stepping in at the same time. Using her left hand, she launched her fist forward towards the boys abdomen. Rather than connect however, a pair of nunchucks came down and struck her hand. She hissed and kicked back, launching a few blasts as she went. The first two shots missed, but the third caught the boy as he was flipping, sending him flying backwards.

As he crashed, he pushed down, flipping himself upright and stopping his momentum. He was crouched with one hand on the ground and the other holding his staff, now slightly shorter due to his earlier deflection. The other half laid in the center of the arena, still in nunchuck form. As he dashed back, Yang shot forward once more. This time, she launched higher, and looked down on the faunus. She let loose a flurry of shots, peppering the arena and covering it in a thick smokescreen.

As she landed, she turned at the ready, prepared for an attack. When none came she dashed into the smoke only to come out the other side having not seen the boy as she passed through.

"What the hell?" she mumbled. Then a bright light that looked strikingly similar to the boy crashed into her form, followed by another one which sent her sprawling. As she righted herself and put her fists up, she was caught by surprise when the bo was right in front of her.

"Miss me?" he asked, before his tail wrapped around her ankle and pulled her feet out from under her. As she fell, he spun his staff over his head and slammed it down the long way, driving the air out of the brawler and taking out a chunk of her aura.

Yang heaved on the ground but rolled away to dodge as another wide slam, this time meant for her face, struck down right next to her ear. The impact had her ears ringing from how close it was, but she was otherwise unaffected.

She growled and threw her arms back onto the ground, unloading at the same time and launching herself upright. Unprepared and too close to move, Sun took a mean headbut right to the face. He jumped back as he winced.

"_Shit _that hurt!" he complained as he held his nose. Thankfully his aura kept anything from breaking. Unfortunately for him, that meant that his aura took a dive. He was currently sitting around fifty six percent or so, while Yang was slightly lower at forty eight. He sighed. The fight was still far from over.

Yang was breathing heavily. Having regained some ground, she ran in low, sliding and catching the boy by the shin. As she halted her momentum with the grab, Sun fell to the floor with her. Rather than stand, the boy decided not to give Yang the advantage of standing back up. So he kept them both on the floor.

Yang gasped as his tail grabbed her arm, but just as she wrenched it free so she could stand, the boys staff swung over him and across her chest. She coughed as she was struck in the stomach, and threw her arm up. Sun didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. Yang shot a blast from her gauntlet, sending her elbow down into the boys stomach like a rocket.

As the two pulled themselves up, they were breathing heavily. They both took a moment to gather themselves. But Sun recovered quicker and broke his staff into his nunchucks again. He closed the distance and whipped the weapons around, ducking and weaving as Yang threw punch after punch trying to defend herself. He finally started pulling the triggers as well, adding a new wave of force to hit Yang in the face and upper arm. He finished by jumping and kicking her in the chest, sending her flying back. Yang was about to throw herself back at the boy, but she was stopped.

Mainly by the blaring of a horn.

She looked to see that her aura had fallen to about thirteen percent, while Sun was standing at around twenty or so. She sighed but walked forward. She held a hand out.

"Not bad, banana head," she joked. He laughed and grabbed her hand.

"Had me on the ropes yourself Goldielocks," he chuckled. The two nodded and walked towards the fighters locker rooms. Before they left the stage however, they were stopped by something. Namely, somebody booing from the audience.

"The faunus cheated!" someone screamed. Yang looked to Sun to see a hurt look on his face.

"Yeah! That's not fair! The filthy animal had an extra limb!" another person added. While many people looked affronted by the comments, knowing the fight had been fair, it seemed the tensions from many still held up. Before long, a third of the audience was screaming obscenities, many from the Atlas citizens and students, but a few from others not in uniform. Ynag ushered Sun out of the arena quickly. Nobody should have to face that after they _won._

"You okay big guy?" Yang asked. He laughed, but it was bitter.

"I guess it's nothing new," he groaned. Suddenly there was more commotion from the stands above. The two blondes watched and listened from the tunnel to the lockers.

"_Hey all you bastards calm down! Quit acting like a bunch of kids! Hey! Beacon students! Break up that fight!_" Roman could be heard yelling through the loudspeaker. Indeed, in the midst of the hostile crowd a fight had broken out. Soon other people were starting to riot too.

"Oh man, this is something else," Sun mumbled. Yang just stared open mouthed. How could people be so... vile?

As the commotion was brought to a mounting point and security got involved. People missed two hooded figures leaving the arena.

"It's not right what we had to do that boy. He's one of us!" a voice said. It was the same voice that had shouted the first accusation. The other nodded along.

"Yes, it was not right. But we have to get things ready for the plan. Adam's freedom depends on it," the other whispered. They both sighed as they took off their hoods.

Many would miss the two individuals with animal ears board an unsanctioned bullhead. As they watched the arena and the angry citizens within, they donned their masks and turned to the person in waiting.

"Are we all set?" Illia asked. They nodded and she hummed.

"Very well. That should do to get the negativity flowing. Rest easy brothers and sisters! We will not be working with the Grimm for much longer! When Adam is freed, we shall be the White Fang once more!" she proclaimed. Everyone cheered and they radioed the others that everything was in place. Illia sighed and looked out the window of the aircraft.

"I'm sorry Blake. But everything will be okay soon," she whispered as she placed her mask back on.

Tomorrow, it would all go down.

* * *

"Why the hell is it taking so long to break this up!?" Roman shouted at Ozpin as the man entered the announcers booth. James walked in behind him and groaned.

"It seems that the people don't remember how to behave. They seem to be split now, with a large amount believing that the boy shouldn't have been allowed the use of an additional external limb, and the other half saying that he fought hard for the victory. Needless to say, the half defending the boy is comprised mainly of faunus and other huntsman, who understand how fighting works," the general explained. They all sighed and looked among the arena. Atlas soldiers were clearing people out now, holding many back from lashing out at others.

"To think things were still this bad..." Roman said quietly. Bart nodded and the room was silent. The day was ruined, and the cameras had already caught the worst parts of the outburst. The whole world would be feeling the tension now.

"What's the status on the fighters? Do we know where they are?" Peter asked. Ozpin nodded and held up his scroll.

"We have them being transported back to Beacon privately. As for the outburst itself..." Ozpin trailed off. Roman groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"There's more?" he asked. The general stepped forward this time.

"Yes. The massive spike in hostility means that people in Vale are incredibly strung up right now," he stated. Roman and the other two professors swore while Ozpin closed his eyes. Chew stirred in Roman's lap and he pet the dog to calm him.

"The Grimm activity is likely to increase by nearly two times around the city walls by tomorrow. This wasn't just some loudmouthed racist. This was planned," James concluded. Roman looked to Ozpin who nodded. He sighed.

"I'll head back to Beacon and try and run damage control among the students," he claimed. Ozpin nodded and Ironwood joined him, the thief and the general taking a private bullhead back to Beacon.

"This... this doesn't bode well," Roman said simply. James grumbled.

"No. And who knows what we're going to do if people don't calm down soon," he said somberly. The two shared the silence until they touched back down on Beacon grounds. Ironwood excused himself as he rushed off the rally his soldiers. Roman headed deeper into the school. As he reached the courtyard, he saw a crowd building. In the crowd, he saw a familiar tuft of pink and brown hair. She was standing with other students in a ring around Yang and Sun.

"Shit," Roman spat as he ran forward to the crowd.

"Hey! HEY! Everyone! Get the hell outta here! This is a Beacon issue and it'll be handled by Beacon authority!" Roman yelled out among the crowd, people either didn't hear him or they were ignoring him. He needed to go about this differently. He looked to the dog in his hands. Chew looked back up at him. He blinked.

That might work.

Meanwhile, Neo and a few other teams of students were trying to hold back the crowd of people. The crowd ranges from angry racists, people who were angry at the angry racists, and news reporters who had snuck into Beacon.

"Gah! Why can't people just step the fuck off!? Haven't any of you bastards heard of personal space!?" Miltia asked as she shouldered people away.

"Back off! You're all a bunch of sick nasty hos!" Melanie shouted. The crowd ignored all of the teens warnings and continued trying to push through to team SSSN.

"Guys I'm really sorry about this!" Sun apologized. He had to shout over the yelling from others. Neo turned and wagged a finger with a Stern look on her face. Her message was clear.

_Don't even think about blaming yourself!_

Suddenly the crowd was silenced by two things.

The first was the telltale sign of a firearm being shot, followed by a firework explosion. The second was an incredibly loud bark that shook the courtyard. Everyone turned to the direction of the noise.

Roman stood with his cane pointed upwards and Chew held under his arm. Both looked quite annoyed.

"Now then, a few things in succession," he began.

"One, all students report to the auditorium, Beacon or otherwise. And yes, this _is _mandatory, thank you for asking. Two, all non-Beacon personnel are to leave the premises of the school. If you don't, you'll be arrested, or if you _really _wanna test my patience right now, you can't fist fight me. And lastly, _SHUT THE FUCK UP!" _Roman screamed. As he finished, people milled about for only a few seconds before scattering and leaving to where they were supposed to be.

A few reported and other non-Beacon people tried to tell him off for his outburst.

After he punched the first reporter in the boob and the second one in the balls, they all left immediately. He sighed and turned to the students that had been forming the ring around team SSSN.

Of course it was the usual troublemakers. Why wouldn't it be?

"Thank you all for trying to keep the situation under control and yadda yadda yadda, all of you come with me," he skipped and started walking towards the tower. Team RWBY, JNPR, MMMN, and SSSN followed after the man.

"What's gonna happen with the festival?" Ruby asked. A few others mumbled their concern. While to many it would seem like a disappointment that the festivities would have to be canceled, teams RWBY, JNPR, and MMMN hoped that everything was cancelled. It would mean less casualties in the end.

"Things are cancelled for the day, and we'll pick back up the last rounds tomorrow. As much as cramming all the fights in one day is a hassle, people have work and we can't afford to extend things another day," the thief groaned. He adjusted his coat and handed Chew to Neo, who snuggled his face to hers. That bark was pretty helpful.

"Team Testosterone, you boys can all head back to your dorms. There's no meeting or anything since Oz is still at the arena and Ironwood is gathering his troops. Just needed to make sure you all got outta there," he explained. The four boys nodded.

"Thanks Mr. T!" Neptune said. He and his team turned and left, comforting Sun along the way. The boy looked like he was taking things pretty well already, so there wasn't much to worry about there.

Roman sighed and lit a cigar. They all watched as the man's eyes seemed to age to a point much older than himself.

"I'll be real with ya kiddos, this isn't looking good," he stated suddenly. They looked to him in shock at his blatant warning.

"This amount of negativity? Loads more than the kingdoms seen in years. Atlas soldiers are gonna be spread thin dealing with the activity," he just kept looking up at the Atlas airships above.

"Isn't there any way we can help?" Ruby asked. Roman chuckled but it was low and hollow.

"Sorry Red, things don't really work that way. We have to let the military handle the outer walls and leave the huntsman in the city in case anything happens. People have been on guard since the breach and that isn't good for morale," he sighed. He threw down his cigar and stamped on it. He turned and looked at Pyrrha before beginning to walk away.

"Some of us have the power to do something, but personally? I think they shouldn't have to handle it alone. Safety in numbers and whatnot," he said as he threw a wave behind him. As he rounded the corner and left they turned to Pyrrha.

"Was he talking about... that?" Yang asked. Pyrrha shrugged.

"He must've been. In which case it seems like Roman doesn't want me to take the maidens powers either..." she mumbled. Neo huffed and grew a determined look to her eyes.

She gave chew the command to follow and stomped after Roman. She missed everyone's calls of 'where are you going?' and sped up.

She found the man still walking back to his room.

"Hey Neo," he greeted without turning around. He knew when it was her.

She stood there and stared at his back. He sighed and turned to face her, that same look still in his eyes.

"What's with the face?" he asked. She didn't budge on the expression and kept staring the man down. He sighed.

"Neo, I know what you're thinking here. But there's nothing we can do," Roman tried. She shook her head and he growled.

"Well what do you suggest we do Neo!? We're in way over our heads, and it looks like her plans are happening whether we're involved or not!" Roman shouted. By this point, the other teams had followed and we're watching the two from around the corner. It seems that the two thieves were too occupied to notice.

"Neo, I know I said we stick around but it's looking bleak," he started. She glared at him.

"Don't give me that look, you know as well as I do that tomorrow will be more than just a little racial outburst. We're talking lives here Neo. Yours and mine specifically," he said. Finally Neo threw her hands up and answered back.

_But what if we can do something? _she asked. He scoffed.

"We've tried and she's still going. There's no more that can be done," he claimed. She stomped forward now.

_Not if you just wait for Ozpin to tell you to make moves! What ever happened to you being your own boss? _she asked. He sighed and gestured around him to the school.

"News flash Neo, all of this was Ozpin's plan! _We _were a part of his plan! A plan that's starting to fall apart as we near the peak of _her _plan!" Roman yelled. Neo and he were right in front of each other now.

_So what? We just up and leave? We can't just do that! _Neo argued. He groaned at her.

"Yes, we can. And that's looking like the best option right now. We snag a bullhead, hightail it outta here, and start somewhere else!" he growled.

_And go back to being criminals? _Neo tried.

"WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN CRIMINALS NEO!" Roman finally snapped. She looked hurt. He hadn't ever screamed at her like that before.

"This whole thing? These 'friends' and these 'opportunities' have all just been a way to distract us from the reality of the situation!" he claimed. Neo shook her head but he cut off any retort and kept going.

"It's over Neo. We're not getting another chance after tomorrow. If Cinder goes through with things she'll do her best to find us and _kill _us," he said as he grabbed her shoulders, "no more warnings, no more running, no more walls to hide behind! We're dead if we stay here any longer."

He let go of her and looked up, a hand on his face.

"_When _things start going down tomorrow I'm leaving. I'll have a bullhead waiting at Amity in the lower docking bay. Join me if you remember why we did all of _this _in the first place," he spat, turning and storming off. Neo wanted to follow but couldn't.

After all they'd been through, every scrap and heist, he was just bailing and going back to nothing? She leaned against the wall and slid down, Chew trying to cheer her up.

"Neo?" the mute turned to see Ruby and the rest standing a few feet away.

"You aren't leaving are you?" Ruby asked. Neo looked her in the eyes.

For the longest time she only had Roman, and he was everything that she knew. He kept her safe, taught her how to survive, and they made it their goals to keep one another alive. But she had promised Ruby that she'd stay. Could she really leave and just go back to the person she was before?

_No, I'm not leaving, _Neo's scroll answered. She was going to prove Roman wrong, and he'd have no choice but to stay. Ruby nodded and held out a hand. Neo took it and got up.

Tomorrow would bring a new age about.

* * *

"_Ahem, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the Vytal Festival Tournament!_" Peter boomed. People were cheering, but there were noticeably less audience members present. Not a large amount by any means, but enough that people could tell.

"_We have a lot of fights to get through to finish today, so get ready folks because we're starting now!_" Bart announced. The city was still feeling the impact of yesterday's outburst, but they couldn't afford to cancel the festival this late.

"_Spin that wheel!_" Peter shouted. As the wheel spun it was impossible to notice the small glitch that the screen underwent. Shortly after, it landed on the two combatants.

"_Will Neo Politan and Penny Polendina please come forward! Your match is starting now!_" Peter asked. People waited as Neo and Penny arrived and stood opposite of each other.

"_Are the combatants ready?_" Bart asked. While the two fighters signalled that they were good to go, many audience members noticed how quiet the thief was today. Roman just sat with Chew in his lap, the dog whining up at him as he watched the two.

"_Fight!_" Port yelled.

Penny started her assault and dashed forward, swinging her blades in an arch towards Neo's left. Neo shattered and appeared behind the girl, jumping and kicking her forward. As Penny stumbled and retaliated, a member of the crowd stared right at Neo.

"Here we go," Emerald mumbled as she began to focus. She remembered Cinder's words.

_Make sure he remembers this._

Neo finished dodging a flurry of swords flung her way when she got a slight tingle in the back of her head.

_What the hell? _she thought as she ducked low under a blast from Penny's sword. She shook her head. Now wasn't the time. She didn't know when Cinder was going to strike and had to finish this fast so that she could be ready with the rest.

She used her semblance and disappeared, coming from Penny's right and bashing the girl with her closed umbrella. Penny barely budged and instead brought her swords in, each one dodged as Neo ducked and weaved between them.

Neo looked up after avoiding being impaled and looked to Penny. As she was about to launch another attack, the intercom sounded.

"_Come on Neo, finish this one off already. You know you want to,_" Roman's voice announced. She blinked and it cost her, taking a direct shot from Penny's sword.

Neo shook it off and looked up at the announcers booth. Was he really still trying to change her mind!? Now of all times!?

Neo ran in and unsheathed her sword finally, scoring some hits against Penny's back. The girl spun and sent a circle of blades her way. Neo jumped and dived through the center of the ring, continuing forward and thrusting her blade toward Penny's chest.

"_Come on already Neo! You know what's coming! We have to go!_" the man shouted. Neo's thrust lost some power and just glanced off of Penny's chest.

In the stands, her team and friends watched as Neo practically floundered around the arena, stumbling every time she went in for an attack.

"What the hell is going on? Neo isn't like this!" Melanie asked. Her sister hummed.

"Yeah she keeps pulling back every time she goes for an attack," Miltia mused. Mercury swore and stood up quickly.

"Guys, look around for a girl with green hair," he said. They all scanned the arena and Ruby saw her opposite of them, standing in the maintenance tunnel.

"Her?" Ruby asked. Mercury squinted to where she point and spat.

"Yeah, her! Everyone, we need to get over there now! If we don't stop that girl then one of those two is dropping dead and Cinder's plan is hitting it's climax!" he shouted. They all stood and bolted around the arena. They found a door to the tunnels but it was locked.

"Damnit! What now?" Yang growled as she tried to muscle the door. It was a heavy duty steel wall however and there was no getting through.

"We do things the criminal way," Mercury stated. Before any of them could ask what he meant, the telltale signs of a gun clicking were heard before he reared back and kicked the door off its hinges.

"Hey! Who are you!? You don't have the right to be here—" the man was cut off as Melanie tackled him and pressed down on a pressure point, knocking him out.

"Oooohhh my god okay let's go," Yang said as they kept dashing.

Back in the arena, Neo was getting thrashed. She kept glaring up at the announcers booth every time Roman would say something and ruin her focus.

"_Neo, you're taking too long! I'm getting outta here!_" Roman finally said. She lurched and looked back, only to see Roman standing and leaving the booth, holding Chew under his arm. Before she could do anything else, a sword slashed at her side, leaving her hissing.

_How the hell can nobody else see this!? _Neo thought as she dashed back and kicked at Penny's knees. Stubbornly, the girl stood firm. Was she made of metal or something!?

Neo swore she heard something but it was muted. Penny had stopped fighting and brought her swords back to her, forming a ring in front of her. Soon after the swords began spinning and a ball of energy could be seen in side.

Neo used her semblance and disappeared. She had to hurry. If she didn't, Roman would leave and she'd never be able to find him! As she dashed behind the girl, she readied her sword.

"What the hell are you doing Neo?" Roman asked as he watched Penny approach the girl for a handshake. Neo had been stumbling around for so long that her aura had been put into the red. But Neo was just... standing there. She generally wasn't a sore sport. Something must've been messing with her head for her to perform so poorly...

"Shit!" Roman said suddenly. He reached forward and grabbed the mic from Peter's hands before screaming into it.

"_GET DOWN KID!_" Roman screamed. Penny looked confused for a moment, before going still. The reason?

A sword protruded from her chest, having been stabbed through from behind. The sword was then torn out diagonally, shearing the girls arm and shoulder from her body. As many screamed and shouted, Roman looked closer.

"Is that a fucking robot!?" he shouted.

Neo meanwhile was staring down at her feet. Penny's body lay there, unmoving. Her eyes had lost their light and she was still.

"_NEO GET OUTTA THERE!_" she looked up to see Roman. She was confused but before she could think about what the man said, all the screens went red.

"_Do you see the kind of 'heroes' your precious schools are breeding? Is this the kind of intent that you all expect from these paragons of tomorrow?" _a woman's voice asked over the loudspeaker. People were panicking now.

"_All of this animosity from Beacon, and this little project of General Ironwood. It makes you wonder if we're all really joined together, or if our leaders are only tearing us apart," _and like that, Cinder's voice disappeared, bringing radio silence to the arena.

"Shit! We're too late!" Mercury said. They all arrived to the maintenance tunnel, but Emerald was gone. All they could see was Neo standing over the robotic form of Penny.

"Penny..." Ruby mumbled. Yang grabbed her sister.

"Ruby! Come on! We have to get in there!" she yelled. Ruby shook but nodded. As they all prepared to grab Neo an altogether worse thing happened.

An alarm blared. And a big ass nevermore crashed through the barrier around Amity Colosseum.

"Son of a bitch," Mercury whispered.

"I'm getting down there! Come on boy!" Roman said. He and Chew slammed the door open and dashed down to the arena as Peter belted out orders to staff and Bart left to talk the civilians.

Neo meanwhile was dodging away from the nevermore. While she was still reeling from her fight and the accidental manslaughter of Penny, she had to fight for her life right now.

The nevermore came in low, and Neo prepared to use her semblance to dodge. But the Grimm was halted when a locker lodged itself in the birds back. Followed by another one. And then several more.

As the bird slid to a stop in front of her she looked over and saw her team and friends along with other students running into the arena.

Neo stood there, breathing heavily. She stared down at Penny's lifeless body, noticing the circuits and metal that protruded from her arm. She blinked away her confusion. Penny was a robot... right.

"Neo!" Ruby cried. Neo's head shot up as Ruby and the others ran over. Ruby dashed ahead and she hugged the girl. Neo hugged her back. As they all suited up and grabbed their weapons a voice called her.

"Neo! Neo are you okay!?" Roman asked as he and Chew ran towards her. She glared but realized something. Didn't Roman leave already? How was he back in the arena? Unless...

_The bitch got me with my own trick!_

Neo had a plan for when she found Cinder's little lapdog. A bloody, violent, and very screamy plan.

She turned to Roman and nodded. He looked like he wanted to say more but shook his head.

"Okay kiddos! Clear the arena and get to Beacon! You all have a school to defend!" he ordered.

"But what about the Grimm here!?" Ruby asked. He looked up to see a flock of griffons swarming the colosseum.

"We'll handle this my dear! You all must not let Beacon go to ruins!" Peter said suddenly. They turned to see him and Bart at the ready.

"We will make sure everyone escapes safely! It is imperative that you all defend the streets and school! Lives are at stake here people!" the doctor said. They all nodded and dashed off. Roman turned to the two.

"Roman my boy," Peter started, "let this not be the last we see of you."

"Indeed, we have still yet to see the true extent of your genius in action!" Bart claimed as the two stood back to back. Roman bit back a sigh.

"We'll see shall we? Don't die on me boys, not a lot of people to drink with if you do!" he said with a smile as he ran towards the docking bay. The two laughed and with a battle cry, threw themselves into the fight. The smile fell as he turned his back to them and made off.

_Time to make or break Neo._

* * *

Neo was currently kicking Grimm off of the docking bay. They were everywhere and it was difficult for civilians to load into the bullheads. Upon their arrival, General Ironwood had been beating the Grimm off on his own.

"Students! We have word that there's hostile activity in Beacon! We need all hands available and fighting!" the general barked. They all shouted some form of assertion and started boarding airships. The general and some soldiers boarded a private aircraft and started to take off.

One bullhead remained without a pilot and devoid of anyone. Neo stalked towards that one instead.

As she walked towards it, a hand grabbed her arm. She turned and looked into the silver eyes of Ruby.

"Neo, you can't."

Neo tore her attention back to the bullhead. Just in time too, as Roman came around the corner. He looked around and caught her eye.

Neo stared into his eyes and his face pinched more and more as she did. Finally, looking incredibly pained, Roman placed Chew on the ground and turned away. He stepped away and opened the door to the ship.

Chew ran over to Neo and hopped up on her legs. She scooped him up.

"Roman!" Ruby yelled. He stopped at the door of the bullhead.

"Can you really do this?" she asked. He stayed where he was, barely moving. Neo stepped forward and stared at his back. Chew whined in her arms.

Roman stepped into the bullhead and sat down in the cockpit. Shortly after, the sound of the engine starting was heard.

"Are you serious!?" Ruby shouted. She bolted forward, Neo shortly behind her. The bullhead began moving away, the door closing slowly. Ruby jumped first, landing in the open hull and turning. Neo threw her Chew, who landed in the reapers arms. Neo then leapt in the bullhead herself.

"Are you two coming then?" Roman asked. He received no answer and turned to look back.

"I'll take that as a y—" he was cut off as Neo slapped him square across the face.

"Okay, I suppose I deserved that," he grumbled. Neo glared at him and was trying to gesture her frustration, but couldn't decide on how.

"Roman! How could you just leave!?" Ruby shouted. Neo pointed to the girl and kept her anger apparent on her face.

"Listen Red, what's going on down there isn't something we can just stop. I'm making the smart choice here!" Roman claimed. As he did, they all looked forward to see one of the Atlas warships blast Ironwood's aircraft out of the sky.

"Oh my God," Roman mumbled. Ruby eeped, and Neo's jaw dropped as she slowly covered Chew's eyes.

"Did... did that warship just shoot General Ironwood?" Ruby asked, dumbfounded by the sight.

"Ah shit," Roman sighed as he watched the ship shoot down the other Atlas carriers. That meant any support from above was all but gone now.

"We need to get on that ship!" Ruby demanded. Roman groaned and turned to her.

"Are you outta your mind!? Why the hell should we go anywhere near that thing!?" Roman asked. Ruby thought about a retort but Neo beat her to it.

_You want out, that ship needs to go down, _she signed. He made to argue but looked at the massive machine. It was positioned perfectly to intercept any aerial interference.

"No, there's gotta be a way around," he tried. They all looked around. The ship was dropping something now.

"That can't be good," Ruby pointed out. Roman growled.

"Argh! Strap in kids!" he snapped, pulling back on the control wheel. The bullhead lurched and turned. Shortly after, the vehicle launched towards the warship.

"I hope Yang and the others are okay..." Ruby mumbled. Roman sighed. He just had to keep his goal in mind. Just as he started to calm a little, a call came through the bullheads radio.

"_Roman! Where are you!?" _Glynda's voice toned. He went pale.

"Uh, I'm taking care of an... issue," Roman said. There was gunfire heard, but it was quickly silenced, presumably by the deputy.

"_Roman what are you talking about!?" _Glynda asked. Just then a large blast could be heard from both the bullhead and the other end of the radio.

"_Ah. I see. Please come back alive," _she pleaded. Before he could answer she hung up to focus on fighting. He groaned.

"Well _I'm _not telling her that you ran away," Ruby stated. Neo crossed her arms in an X in front of her.

"For the love of all that's holy..." Roman swore under his breath.

"You kids suck," he claimed. Chew yipped and he grumbled.

"You're alright boy, don't worry about it," he amended.

Suddenly they all were tossed as Roman had to turn up abruptly.

"Shit! That thing almost shot us down!" Roman yelled.

"Where are we going now!?" Ruby asked, confused at what she was staring at out of the cockpit windshield.

"That would be the sky. We're going straight up right now," Roman answered. They all let the craft go silent before a red light lit up on the dashboard.

"What's that light mean?" Ruby asked.

"That would mean we're stalling," Roman replied.

"What's that mean?"

"We're about to start falling."

"Ah."

"Ah indeed Red. Ah indeed."

They all screamed as the aircraft fell out of the sky. As they lost their position in the aircraft, they all jolted and slammed into the cockpit as the ship crashed into something.

"Argh shit that hurt. You two okay?" Roman asked as he rubbed his head and adjusted his hat.

"Rrgh, I'm okay. Neo?" the young reaper asked as she pat Chew's head. The dog whined but was otherwise okay.

Neo shot a thumbs up as she rubbed her ass.

_Of all the parts of my body to land on. I swear, if this bruises... _her scroll read out. Ruby giggled and they all looked around. The bullhead had landed cockpit first on... whatever they landed on. That meant that right now, the bullhead doors were above them and sideways.

"Alright well, out we go," the thief said. They all climbed up and Roman kicked the door open. He fell back immediately due to two things.

The first was the sudden rush of wind, which quite literally blew him back. The second was a griffon that nearly bit his head off.

"Damn! I swear, I am _not _getting eaten by one of those things!" Roman growled. They all climbed back up and out. Roman realized where the wind had come from.

"You gotta be kidding me..." he whined. They were currently staring out among the city. The issue was that they were also moving. Which meant they'd landed _on top _of the warship.

"We made it!" Ruby proclaimed, ever the optimistic one.

"YOU!" a voice screamed. Roman turned and almost cried.

"You?" he complained. He and Adam Taurus stared one another down. Ruby and Neo readied up and Chew lowered into a hostile stance after seeing all his familiar people get ready to fight.

"WE HAVE A SCORE TO SETTLE SCUM!" Adam shouted. Roman got ready for a fight. This time was the last time he felt like dealing with this fanatic bastard.

"Let's just skip the pillow talk and get to the part where I fuck you seven ways to Sunday, shall we?" Roman proposed. Adam let out a blood curdling scream as he dashed forward.

Roman threw his cane up and blocked the first strike, but not the second and third, which came in shortly after and hit him in the gut and chin.

He retaliated in kind and swung up, knocking the faunus's head backwards. He bowed forward and Neo flipped over him, slashing down his sword arm. Ruby then slid under Roman and launched herself up and into Adams chest. She kicked the sword out of his hand.

"Rah!" He shouted as he lashed out and decked Ruby in the jaw. She yelled and fell to her side. Neo glared and jumped on Adams back, holding herself there with her legs on his sides. She stabbed over and over into whatever she could hit, Adam screaming the whole time.

Adams haired glowed red as he fell back and slammed Neo into the metal floor beneath them. Neo let out a silent cry as Adam buried an elbow into her throat. He turned and ran to his sword but was cut off as two shots exploded in front of him.

Roman took aim and shot twice at the man himself, but Adam dodged away and towards his sword. Just as he was about the reach it, a blur shot past it and his sword was gone.

"WHAT!?" he screamed. He looked around and finally saw a familiar bright red among the ships roof. His sword was currently in the mouth of a very angry looking puppy, who was growling at him.

He growled and ran at the dog, tackling it and trying the wrestle the blade from it's teeth.

"Let go of the sword you filthy animal!" he spat. He heard the familiar sound of clicking guns and turned to see Ruby and Roman aiming down at him.

"Think that's my line stumpy," Roman grinned. Adam screamed out as the two shot him. He turned to try and get his sword out of the dog's mouth to block the shots but found that the dog was gone.

He looked around and saw Neo holding the puppy. The puppy still had his sword and let his owner take the blade.

"Now, you wanna tell us what you were doing up here?" Roman asked as he and Ruby kept the man at gunpoint. Adam let out a dark chuckle.

"It doesn't matter now! By this point the witch has gotten Atlas's robots to slaughter the students and civilians below! Even if you kill me, I've already sent a message to the whole world!" he laughed. Roman and Ruby looked to each other before nodding and dropping their weapons.

"What?" Adam asked, confused at their lack of reaction. Before he could think on it further, he felt something very strange. Almost like a cut but... way worse.

He turned around and saw Neo with _his _sword stabbed through his back. It was stabbed in a very similar place to where he had stabbed her so many months ago.

"Wh-what?" he gurgled, blood coming to his mouth. He stumbled and tried grabbing Neo's arms. She kicked him back and he fell backwards, impaling himself further. Shortly after his body rolled away, falling off the side of the ship and into the swarm of griffon below.

"He died as he lived," Roman said aloud.

"Fighting?" Ruby asked?

_Screaming? _Neo asked.

"Stupidly," Roman answered. The ship lurched and Roman looked around.

He looked to the growing number of griffons around them and gestured to the two girls.

"Let's get inside! I might be able to land this thing without crashing it through the city streets!" Roman claimed. They all ran inside and Roman started working on the controls. Ruby watched as he pressed buttons and pulled levers randomly.

"Oh shit, he wasn't lying," Roman said. Ruby was about to ask what he meant but looked at the screen in front of them. It was footage from a wrecked Atlas bullhead, and while the camera wouldn't move, the image was clear.

"Atlas androids are really fighting against us right now," Ruby mumbled as she watched the carnage unfold. She even saw her own team fighting off Grimm and White Fang alike.

"Shit, that place is a battle ground right now," Roman stated as they watched students fight monster and man alike.

"But if we have control of the airship now, then don't we just have to deal with the Grimm and some White Fang fanatics?" Ruby asked. Roman was about to breathe a sigh of relief. That was true. Those things were easy enough to deal with without worrying about being blasted from above.

But he didn't get that sigh. Before he could, a rumbling could be heard from outside the ship.

_What the hell is that? _Neo asked. Ruby shrugged and Roman turned the cameras on to try and find out. They all looked and Ruby pointed one of the screens out.

"That one! Camera four!" she said. Roman switched to camera four only to see a mountain.

"What in the world?" he said quietly. The mountain looked like it was... moving?

Not moving. Breaking.

Suddenly the mountain top exploded, and an only black form writhed from within.

"No fucking way," Roman swore. They watched as two large wings unfolded and the form took to the skies.

"Is that..." Ruby couldn't even finish the thought.

_It totally is, _Neo's scroll answered the unfinished question.

Roman was feeling a lot of things however. But the first that came to mind wasn't as appropriate as he thought.

"That bastard owes me a doctorate," he mumbled as the massive Grimm dragon soared past their ship and towards Beacon.

_"Emergency warning! Fuel levels depleted! Critical engine failure detected!" _the ship's automatic voice warned.

"Oh fuck," Roman sighed as the ship started descending.

"Ahhh! Neo hold me! I'm too young to die!" Ruby screamed. The two hugged with Chew in between them. Roman stood behind them and held the two by the shoulders.

"BRACE!" he shouted. They all tensed, and everything went black.

* * *

"Ozpin! That Atlas warship that was shooting at us just crashed right outside the school! And there's a GIANT GRIMM DRAGON COMING THIS WAY!" Glynda screed at the headmaster. He grabbed his cane and dashed away.

"I'm getting Ms. Nikos! Do not let Beacon fall!" Ozpin commanded. Before she could say anything he was off. She sighed. So many terrorists and Grimm had been dealt with by her alone, and to top it all off, Roman, Neo, and Ruby were all missing.

"Roman, please be alive on that thing," Glynda said as she stared at the ship one last time. It hadn't exploded yet, which meant if he was on it, he could still be okay.

Glynda ran outside and through the mess hall. It was mostly intact. Despite her rush, she stopped. A sudden sense told her to duck. Not one to ignore her intuition, she ducked immediately.

Just in time for a blade on a chain to pass overhead.

"Hm, you must be Emerald. Mr. Black told us about you, but it is regrettable that you managed to make it within Beacon grounds," Glynda said calmly. Emerald stepped around the corner and stared the woman down.

Glynda raised and eyebrow before sidestepping. As she did, a razor sharp whip soared past her head.

"And I have no clue who you are, but you're certainly trouble," Glynda said as she turned slightly to eye Ilia.

"You're not getting anywhere near Cinder. Not until she gets what she wants," Emerald claimed. Glynda huffed. She was already exhausted with today.

"I admire your confidence, but sadly nothing will come of it," Glynda said as she raised her crop. The two raised a confused brow before they were covered by a shadow. They looked up with wide eyes as they watched the entire _ceiling_ of the mess hall floating above them. Glynda raised into the air, standing on a floating table.

"Now then; class is in session," she stated, before literally bringing the roof down.

Ilia and Emerald had no choice but to take the brunt of the crash, leaving the entire hall full of dust. Glynda humphed and whipped her crop to the side, sending all the dust with it. When it cleared, nobody was there.

_I see, it's going to be like that then, _she thought. Without turning she shot a blast of dust from her crop and adjusted her glasses.

"It is unwise to approach someone with such carelessness, even when cloaked," she instructed, instincts taking over. She turned and pointed The Disciplinarian toward the sky, where a storm clouds appeared to be forming.

"It is also unwise to attempt resistance against an opponent much stronger than yourselves," she glared. Soon after, a hail of icicles crashed down from the cloud, embedding themselves throughout the ruined mess hall.

Emerald cursed as she and Ilia had to start moving, avoiding being pierced from above by the giant storm. All of this and this woman wasn't a Maiden!?

Glynda sighed and took stance, once foot forward and her arm outstretched with her crop pointed towards where the two girls had reconvened.

Without even tensing, a barrage of purple blasts left the edge of her weapon, hailing down where the two stood.

They dashed forward and past the blast, trying to close the distance and engage the woman in close combat. Glynda narrowed her eyes and allowed them to advance.

Sensing the mistake Emerald swung her arm out and caught Ilia, halting the two.

"Why'd you do that—" Ilia was cut off as a ring of fire exploded around the woman. When it cleared, Glynda was down on one knee, her crop press very gently against the ground. She stood and brushed a single strand of hair back behind her ear.

"Hm, your reflexes are sharp it would seem. At the very least your intuition is strong," the headmistress observed. The two breathed heavily, thinking the same thing.

_This woman is a monster._

"No then, eyes up. We may converse later when you're in prison," Glynda claimed, swirling The Disciplinarian in a circle in front of her. When she stopped, the two younger women threw each other in opposite directions.

Not a moment later an arch of lighting seared the spot they stood on.

Definitely a monster.

* * *

Ozpin had located Pyrrha. There was just one issue however. One that he hadn't quite anticipated that was throwing a wrench in his plans.

"Ms. Nikos, what do mean _no_?" he asked.

"I mean I refuse. I will help you fight and defend, but I will not be your vessel," she said as she stared him in the eyes.

"Sorry headmaster, I ordered it!" Jaune said. Funnily enough, he didn't look all that sorry. Yang ran up and caught her breath for a moment.

"We're all clear in the southern wing! Everyone's exhausted but we're relatively okay. Has anyone seen Ruby!?" Yang said quickly. Her nervousness was palpable.

"She was with Neo last time I saw her," Jaune said. Yang clenched her eyes shut and sighed. That was as good as she'd get right now.

"This is all well and good, but Ms. Nikos I really must ask you to reconsider—" he was cut short by Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry headmaster, but I am my own fighter. I simply can't do it," she said. Her hands shook but stilled when Jaune grabbed one. She squeezed it.

Ozpin made to argue but shook his head. He nodded to the students and ran towards the elevator and was about to descend into the basement. Maiden candidate or not, he would not let Cinder get the remaining power.

Suddenly, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Yang joined him in the elevator. The door closed and they were locked in.

"What are you all doing? Please, this is none of your—" Yang was the one to cut him off this time.

"Sorry headmaster! We're gonna help protect the maiden whether you want it or not!" the blonde claimed as they all waited. Ozpin sighed, but smiled internally. Perhaps this was the generation to push the tides in their favor after all. They certainly had the spirit.

"While now may not be the time for curious questions, I must ask; how, Mr. Arc and Ms. Xiao Long, do you know about the Maiden?" Ozpin asked sending a sly smile Pyrrha's way. The champion coughed and looked away, Ozpin waving her off. As of now it meant little to keep secrets. Yang for her part looked embarrassed for having let their knowledge of the maiden slip.

As they arrived they were met with the still form of Amber, still in the tube and asleep.

"We're not too late," Ozpin sighed in relief, visibly releasing tension from his body.

"What's the plan?" Yang asked. Ozpin ran ahead and checked on the pods, after making sure nothing was out of place he turned to them.

"We cannot allow the Fall Maiden to die. If she does, then Beacon will fall and Vale will lose its primary line of defense," Ozpin warned. They all nodded and dropped into stance, standing guard before the chamber.

"What kind of entrance should we expect?" Jaune asked. Ozpin shook his head.

"I'm afraid I don't quite know. It may be a very first and explosive one, if what Mr. Black and Torchwick have told me is to be believed," Ozpin stated.

"Sounds grand," Pyrrha groaned.

"Right, so listen for fire and explosions. Shouldn't be too hard to hear alongside all the _other _fire and explosions going on above us," Yang mumbled.

They were beginning to wonder how long they'd be waiting when an unexpected 'ding' noise sounded throughout the basement.

"Was that the elevator?" Jaune whispered.

"Don't be foolish Mr. Arc, there's no way out enemies would simply take the elevator," Ozpin reprimanded.

_Fwip!_

They all turned to see an arrow lodged in the chest of Amber, the girls eyes going wide before slowly closing. The machine she was in let out a low whirring noise as the girl went completely still.

"Ah shit she took the damn elevator," Ozpin whispered to himself.

"Ozpin, I'd have thought better of you. Hiding all of this right under everyone's noses?" Cinder asked from the other end of the basement.

"You mean a large, mostly empty room with one occupant?" Ozpin asked, "Or the new green lights we've been testing down here?"

"Enough of your distractions Ozpin! It's been a long few months and I've had enough of you interfering with my plans!" Cinder yelled.

"I have to say I have no idea what you're talking about," Ozpin said as he checked his nails.

"What!? You stole Roman and his little pet away and ruined most of my plans! You knew exactly what you were doing!" Cinder frothed. The three students turned to Ozpin who had a blank look on his face.

Ozpin was thinking about something else however.

"Who in the world would hinge so much of their plan on _one _person who has a history of double crossing people?" he asked. The basement was silent for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

"Uh—" Jaune didn't get to finish his thought as a hail of arrows flew past him and towards Ozpin.

"Well then, that wasn't very sportsmanlike of you," the headmaster said as he whipped his cane into a fighting position, striking all the arrows mid flight. The three students dropped into ready stances as well, but he waved them away.

"All of you, leave. I'll need all the space I can keep Ms. Fall occupied. Go get help. Now!" he commanded. They all looked hesitant but ran ahead anyways. As they did, Cinder made no move to stop them.

"Now then Ozpin, let's wrap things up here," Cinder said as her eyes flared and she began floating off the ground. Ozpin sighed as he reached deep within to the old magic resting in his soul.

"I didn't have enough coffee for this," Ozpin mumbled as the two flew forward and clashed.

* * *

"Hmm, it is regrettable that they escaped but I suppose as long as they're gone that's better than nothing," Glynda said as she dusted herself off. The two had not been overly tasking on her skills but they're unique skills in deception and running away made it difficult for her to ascertain their location. Eventually everything went silent and Glynda realized they'd retreated.

"Glyn? Glyn!?" a voice called out from across the ruined courtyard. Only one person called her that. She turned to see Roman limping her way, carrying an unconscious Ruby and Neo on his back. Chew was walking alongside him and whining up at his owner.

"Roman!" she shouted as she ran to him. He struggled to stand long enough for her to reach him but when she did she levitated the two girls off his shoulders. He caught his breath but stayed upright.

"Are you okay!?" she fussed over him as she checked his leg. There were a few pieces of metal stuck in his legs here and there but nothing debilitating. What was clear was the cause of the thief's limp.

"Roman, what happened to your leg!?" she exclaimed. He looked down and waved her off.

"Oh ya know. Crashed an Atlas warship in the forest and got a piece of shrapnel impaled in my thigh. Other than that I'm peachy," he groaned. She allowed a smile to grace her face. If he was still complaining then he was going to be okay.

"Ruby!" someone yelled from further away. Yang ran over, being tailed by Jaune and Pyrrha. Glynda gave the girl over to her sister and yang sighed.

"She's okay Blondie. Luckily for us the trees broke most of our fall," Roman groaned. He fell on deaf ears as Yang tried to wake her sister up.

"Glad to see you here and fighting Mr. Torchwick. We were sure you were fleeing the fight," Pyrrha said. He waved her away, sending a sidelong glance towards Glynda.

"Why _ever _would you say something like that Nikos?" Roman said through gritted teeth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Glynda asked, an eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

"Uh, that I would never even _think _of leaving you and running away!" Roman said with a big smile. She sighed and glared at him.

"Roman, why would you try and run away?" she asked. He sighed and leaned in. She made no move to push him away.

"Because I was scared Glyn. I was scared and I didn't want to die," he whispered to her. She sighed and looked him in the eyes, a stern look on her face.

"And did you even think about telling me?" she asked. He laughed nervously.

"Well, the thought crossed my mind but I was scared of that too," he said a lot more confidently. She groaned and slapped his chest.

"No running. Promise?" she said as she looked him in the eyes. He grimaced. Looking Neo's way he sighed. He couldn't do this to her. They needed each other. He nodded. Not like he could run now anyways. And also Glynda scared him.

"Promise," he mumbled. She kissed his cheek and he smiled her way. As they turned back to the kids Glynda returned to her normal disposition.

"Students, where is Ozpin?" Glynda asked. They all shuffled. Ruby and Neo began to wake up and Chew was barking and jumping on them.

"He stayed back to fight Cinder. We haven't seen him since the basement," Jaune answered. Roman and Glynda swore and looked toward Beacon tower.

"Not to change topics or anything because really our headmasters safety is important, but what do we do about _that!?_" Yang shouted. She was in fact referring to the giant dragon that was circling Beacon.

"That..." Roman started, "I actually have a plan for that."

"Wait really?" Jaune asked. The thief scoffed.

"Don't be so surprised Blondie... squared? Whatever, other Blondie," he grumbled.

"Well what is it?" Pyrrha asked. Yang helped the two shorter girls up and they stabilized themselves.

"Uh..." Roman trailed off. Glynda rubbed her temples.

"It's an incredibly powerful bomb," Glynda told. They all stared back at the thief. He shrugged.

"My hunch is never wrong," he said. They all groaned.

"Okay, where's this bomb?" Yang asked. He coughed into his fist.

"Uh, well about that," he started as he scratched the back of his head, "it's in Beacon tower."

"Oh great! Is it nailed to the ground too!?" Yang asked. Roman tugged his collar and they all paled.

"You're joking," Glynda intoned.

"Well it's so powerful that it wouldn't be capable of being a mobile device so it takes power directly from the tower," Roman explained.

"That's why the power bill was so high last month," Glynda mumbled to herself.

"Okay so what? We lured that thing to Beacon tower and blow the school up!? That's like the opposite of what we want!" Jaune shouted.

"Well, it's that or try and shoot it out of the air with all of the ordinance that we don't have," Roman argued. They looked amongst each other.

"I'll go grab the rest of our teams. I'll make sure they get people as far away from the tower as possible," Yang claimed. She dashed off and Ruby and Neo stood firm.

"Welcome back to the land of the living you two. Just in time too, were about to bomb the school," Roman deadpanned.

"What!?" Ruby shrieked. Neo just sighed.

"Calm down Ms. Rose. You'll have to bomb a lot of public places if you ever get your license in full," Glynda told. They looked toward Beacon tower and watched a bright orange light fly up the elevator shaft.

"That looks like magic to me," Roman said. Glynda sighed.

"Which means Ozpin lost," she added. The students all gasped. That meant that Ozpin must've been...

"He isn't really...?" Ruby trailed off. Roman and Glynda looked to one another.

"Okay, Ozpin may or may not be dead, but that means we have to pick up the pace!" Roman stated. They all looked to him.

"If we don't bring that crazy bitch down then the kingdom will burn!" he yelled. They nodded. Now wasn't the time to mourn.

"What's the plan?" Pyrrha asked. Roman hummed.

"Glynda, take the kids. I'll set up the bomb. When it's set, I'll send up a shot and you all get the hell off the tower," he ordered.

"We have to fight her!?" Jaune asked.

"You don't have to win, you just need to stall her," Roman stressed. They all nodded and started running towards the tower.

"This is such an awful idea," Glynda told him. Neo nodded with her.

"Well it's what we've got!" Roman said. Upon getting to the tower, Roman tore the janitors closet open. Inside was the bomb.

"Okay, we really are bombing the school," Ruby mumbled. Neo placed Chew down and pointed to Roman. Chew went and stood guard by the thieves feet. Glynda kissed the man and he hugged her close. Ruby and Neo looked at one another and blushed. Jaune and Pyrrha just laughed.

"Alright students. Stay smart and stay alert. Don't worry about bringing her down, just keep her here," Glynda told. They nodded and stepped in the broken elevator. Glynda used her semblance and shot them all up the tower. Roman immediately got to work prepping the bomb. This would only take a few minutes...

Meanwhile, atop the tower, Cinder looked upon the kingdom and school before her. It was all coming together now. Everything that she worked for was coming to fruition.

She heard a screeching noise behind her, and when she turned around the elevator exploded outward and she covered her eyes. When the dust settled, five people stood before her.

"Cinder Fall!" Glynda shouted, "You must atone for the lives that you have taken today!"

"Hmph, if Ozpin couldn't stop me, what makes you think you and some children can?" Cinder asked as she began to float.

"Fuck you that's how!" Ruby shouted. Neo looked more smitten than ever before. Before Cinder could respond, a shot rang out as Ruby nailed the woman in the shoulder.

"Argh! Fine! I'll enjoy this," Cinder growled as she conjured a fireball.

As she threw it Jaune ran forward and blocked the blast. Pyrrha jumped over him and took some shots at the woman. Neo and Ruby dashed in and danced around her, dodging elements left and right.

Cinder crashed into the ground and a pillar of fire erupted around her. They all dashed and hid behind cover as the fire seared the old office.

Pyrrha dashed out from behind cover and engaged in close combat with the woman. As she did, Ruby took shots to cover her.

Cinder kicked Pyrrha back and unleashed a flurry of arrows among the room, shortly after they all burst and forced them all behind cover again.

"If you think I'm dumb enough to attempt this alone you're all more foolish that I thought!" Cinder yelled. They all looked confused but fell over and had to ground themselves when the tower shook.

Before anyone could asked what it was, the roof was torn off of the office, leaving them all bared to the wind and cold of their height.

"Oh shit," Jaune groaned. The same dragon that was circling the school was currently staring all of them in the eyes.

"That's a big Grimm! How the hell are we supposed to deal with that!?" Ruby asked. Glynda hissed and channeled her semblance. This would take a lot out of her.

Cinder's eyes widened as all of the debris in the room, including the old top op of the tower levitated and formed a giant spear that pointed at the dragon behind her. Cinder roared with the dragon as she tried to burn the debris before it could hit. She was halted when Neo smacked her upside the head with her umbrella.

"You!" Cinder spat. Before she could move, the spear was thrust forward and into the dragons open mouth. The creature struggled and shook the tower, sending all of them stumbling.

Cinder recovered quickly and grabbed the person closest to her.

As she lifted Neo by the back of the neck she held a sword up to her throat.

"Enough of this! You've all lost! I have the power of the Fall Maiden!" Cinder screamed. Her sword began heating and Neo struggled against the new pain of her oxygen burning inside of her.

"No!" Ruby shouted as she reached out. As though sensing the fear in Ruby, Cinder grinned ferally.

"Let this be an example. I always get what I want, and those who try and stab me in the back always get what's coming to them," Cinder stated.

And then she dragged her sword back, splaying blood out of Neo's throat.

"_NEO!_" Ruby shrieked. Pyrrha gasped and Jaune hugged her close. Glynda was sweating as she dragged Neo over to her as Cinder dropped her.

"Neo!? Shit!" she swore, using her semblance to keep the girls open wound closed. Ruby meanwhile trembled, before a light tore from her eyes.

"WHAT!?" Cinder screamed. The dragon screamed with her as the two were consumed by the light. Ruby fainted right after and Glynda grabbed her too. Everything was bright and ringing for a few minutes, and when they all regained vision, Cinder was gone.

The dragon remained, but it was encased in stone.

"Damn it all!" Glynda raged. The dragon's form shook a little and an arm broke loose. It dragged the claw across the office floor and they all stepped back to avoid being bisected.

Just then a flare shot up behind the dragons head, which also began to crack and break free.

"JUMP!" Glynda yelled. The two students leapt from the tower and Glynda secured the two small girls. She levitated herself down on one of the elevator doors that had been blasted off.

As they touched down, Roman was waiting at the bottom.

"NEO!" he cried as he grabbed the girl from Glynda. He glowed a bright orange as he used his semblance.

"Roman we need to run!" Glynda said. He looked at her in silence before nodding. He held Neo close and placed Chew on his shoulder. The dog cried as he tried to reach for his owner.

They all ran as fast as they could in their exhausted state. As they saw groups of students, they yelled out.

"WE NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION OVER HERE!" Roman shouted. The remainder of teams RWBY, JNPR, and MMMN ran over.

"What the fuck happened!?" Miltia asked as she looked over the still, pale form of Neo.

"And what about that dragon!? It looks like it's about to break free!" Mercury added. Before anyone could ask anymore questions, the tower glowed an orange color before exploding out. The dragon hanging on its side was torn to pieces as the flames engulfed it.

They all hunched over and braced as the heat wave reached them.

"Holy shit you actually just blew up the school!" Nora shouted.

"Less talking more saving life!" Roman growled as he muscles past the kids. They all made sure to relieve the others of their armor and Yang took Ruby from Goodwitch.

"I... don't know if Neo will survive like she did last time," Jaune mumbled. Melanie pushed him lightly.

"Have hope! We can't just give up on her!" she said as she bit her nails.

"Uh guys! You might wanna see this!" Roman yelled. They all crammed into the medical tent that he'd taken and saw Chew licking at Neo's throat.

"Eww," they all winced. Roman hushed them.

"No you idiots! Look closer!" he pointed. They all leaned in and what they saw was truly surprising.

"What the hell?" Blake asked.

"Her injury is just... gone?" Ren questioned.

Neo's wound had closed and a scar remained. It was still very much raw and needed attention, but it was closed.

"Is that the dog? Is it a semblance?" Nora asked.

"No, this is something else," Glynda mumbled as she inspected the dog. Chew had finished now and was nuzzling Neo's cheek.

Roman fell over and sighed. He didn't even react when the cot he fell onto snapped and he was left laying on the floor.

"The damn dog has a healing tongue," he sighed. They all looked to him.

"A what?" Yang asked.

"It's common for animals to lick their wounds and the wounds of their own," Ren mentioned.

"Are you saying an animal with aura can heal wounds by licking?" Miltia asked.

"It's speculated that it doesn't heal, simply closes the wound," Glynda said.

"Which means Neo is still going to wake up in a world of pain," Roman sighed into his hands. He took several deep breaths and they all gave the man some space. He stood and walked over to Neo. Chew looked up at him and he rubbed the dogs head.

"Okay, now you're _definitely_ a keeper," he said. The dog yipped and curled up into Neo's chest. He sighed again and allowed himself to do something he hadn't done in years.

As the first year fell out, he hunched over and hugged Neo's form to his own.

"Goddamnit Neo," he mumbled, "we weren't meant to be heroes."

"If like to disagree," Glynda stated from behind him. It spoke to how much he trusted her that he didn't try to hide his tears.

"This may not be what you had planned, but you certainly have a knack for adapting to your current situation," she added.

"And what's our situation now?" he grumbled, wiping his face clean.

"Well. I don't really know," she said. She grabbed his hand and he squeezed it for comfort.

"Did Ozpin's 'plan' account for the school exploding?" Roman asked. Glynda shrugged.

"Who knows. What I do know is that we need to get Neo to an _actual _hospital. We can't give her the necessary treatment here," Glynda said. He nodded and stood up from Neo's limp form.

"How are the other brats?" he asked. She laughed.

"Shaken but okay. People are asking what happened on that airship, but only three people know and two of them are unconscious," Glynda said. Roman sighed as he and Glynda stepped outside the tent. Roman turned back and pointed at Chew.

"Keep her safe boy!" he told. Chew stood proudly and his ears perked up in alertness.

"Yo! Mr. T! You gonna tell us what happened up there?" Yang asked. She was stroking Ruby's hair, the girl breathing softly.

"Yeah. For one, our formerly horned friend is dead," he stated. Blake gasped.

"Adam is... dead?" she asked. Roman nodded.

"Died screaming and frothing. What a way to go right?" he asked. Blake was quiet and she looked down.

"As for the ship, it's totaled. And probably prone to start a forest fire soon," he said. They all stared over at the Emerald Forest, where the massive ship had crashed.

Then the ship exploded much like the tower did.

"Okay well now it's definitely starting a forest fire," he stated. They all sighed and looked back to each other. That was someone else's problem right now.

"And Ozpin is...?" Mercury asked. Roman rolled his eyes back and stuck out his tongue.

"Shit," the assassin mumbled. He didn't think Cinder would actually be able to do anything.

"And Cinder escaped," Glynda informed. Roman swore. Had he a chance he'd put a few rounds through her personally. Maybe throw in a couple curb stomps here and there.

"Why don't we get you all settled somewhere and we can deal with the _incredibly sensitive and secret _information that you all have now," Roman said as he stared among them. They all smiles back and he sighed.

"Yeah, we'll talk about _that _can of worms later," he claimed as he went back in to stay with Neo.

Life just got a whole lot harder.

* * *

Everything hurt and she felt like throwing up. The issue with that was that the idea of anything even _looking _at her throat right now made her nauseous, let alone anything touching it. Neo slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

This wasn't her room, but it was clearly somebody's room if the posters and soft bed were anything to go by.

A soft mumbling from her side roused her attention. Soon after, someone grabbed wrist and pulled her back down.

They smelled like strawberries and their hands were firm enough to be a huntress, which really could only be one person.

Neo looked over and was face to face with Ruby, who was still very much asleep. She blushed at their proximity but shook it off. She liked Ruby's face.

"Mmmph, nooo. Five more minutes," she grumbled. Neo rolled her eyes and thought of a way to wake the girl up. She got a mischievous look in her eyes and she smiled. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the other girls.

"Mmm. Neo," Ruby mumbled out as her eyes slowly opened. Then she gasped and pulled back, stammering.

"N-Neo!?" eh said embarrassed. Neo winked at her but it lacked the normal sultriness when Neo winced and held her throat. Then Ruby's eyes widened and her blush vanished.

"NEO!" she yelled as she hugged the girl. Neo hugged her back, the two remaining silent as they embraced. When Ruby pulled back she looked the girl in eyes.

"I... I thought..." Ruby trailed off. Neo waved her hand in front of her and pounded her chest lightly with her other hand, putting on a mock impression of a strong face. Ruby giggled and Neo joined her. Shortly after Ruby asked an important question.

"How'd you get in my room?"

"That would be us," Qrow said from her doorway. Roman stood with him, smirking and arms crossed leaning against the door.

"Well well well, I didn't think you'd be so active after being knocked for so long," Roman said.

"Wait, Roman? Why are you in my house?" Ruby asked. He rolled his eyes.

"I've been here in case she wakes up," he said pointing at Neo, "and it was free since Qrow offered."

"Against dad's better judgement!" Yang's voice called from downstairs. Ruby and Neo laughed. Qrow nudged him.

"Tai likes ya. He just doesn't wanna admit it in front of her kids," Qrow teased. Roman scoffed.

"Somehow that hurts more," he mumbled. Qrow laughed this time.

"So what happened?" Ruby asked. Roman and Qrow looked to one another.

"Your niece," Roman said. Qrow groaned and stepped forward.

After a short and no less confusing explanation of Ruby's hidden power, the two girls were getting up.

"Where is everyone?" Ruby asked. Qrow tsked.

"Take it easy Rubes, you two just woke up!" Qrow said. Ruby blew a raspberry at him and ran downstairs. Neo followed shortly after. Roman laughed.

"Well at least they're okay," Roman said as he followed the two downstairs. When he arrived it was to see Taiyang hugging Ruby to his chest.

"Oh I'm so happy you're okay!" he yelled. Neo stood with Yang who gave the girl a small hug and a smirk.

"And you!" Tai yelled. Neo only just turned when the man scooped her into a crushing hug. She let out a silent yell.

"Never thought Ruby would find someone so soon after leaving the house! Don't break her heart or I'll break your legs!" he said in a happy tone. He continued hugging her the whole time.

"Bark bark bark!" As though sensing his owners presence, Chew ran in with Zwei trailing after. Chew jumped on Tai as he tried to reach Neo.

"Here ya go boy," Tai said as he placed Neo back on the ground. Neo let out a silent gasp and scooped the dog up. Chew licked her throat a few times but stopped when he realized she was healed.

"Hooray, everyone is fine," Roman cheered with no enthusiasm. Neo rolled her eyes and stood before the man. They stared at each other, neither moving. The family watched the two, concerned that maybe something was wrong. Finally after a minute of silence, the two broke composure and hugged.

"Never do something so stupid again okay?" Roman asked. Neo nodded into his shoulder as he pat her back.

"Good to see you two are as expressive as always," Glynda said as she entered the house. Roman turned and laughed.

"Have you ever known me to be anything other than the picture of stability?" Roman asked. Glynda laughed in his face and he looked offended. She turned to Neo and nodded with a smile.

"I'm happy to see that you've recovered Neo," Glynda told. Neo saluted and Glynda laughed.

"None of that now. Beacon is... gone for now. Such formalities are unnecessary," the deputy stated. Neo and Ruby looked to her in surprise.

"Yeah we may have blown up a lot more than I anticipated," Roman whispered as he scratched his head.

"Yes, but as awful as it is, the resulting wave of heat followed by the explosion of the Atlas warship has cleared out Grimm on a wide scale level," Glynda said as she adjusted her glasses.

Ruby hummed. Neo was busy checking on Chew and making up for lost pets.

"Ya know, there's business to be done in Mistral," Qrow said suddenly. They all turned to him and Taiyang stepped forward.

"Qrow, we can't just send them to Mistral! The comms are down and there's no way you're taking a bunch of kids to Mistral on foot," Tai argued. Qrow stepped forward.

"They already know about Salem Tai! This is what Ozpin would've wanted!" the man rasped. Tai scoffed.

"You're not taking my daughter's anywhere right now. They deserve the break," Tai said. Qrow grumbled.

"Boys boys, keep it in your pants, eh? Let the kids decide for themselves," Roman said. They both looked at him. Yang answered instead.

"Are you suggesting we trek our way to Mistral because Ozpin said so when he was, oh ya know, _alive?_" Yang asked. Roman rolled his eyes.

"All I'm saying is that there's trouble out there and you kids have a habit of looking for it," Roman stated. Nobody responded to that. The man was right.

"I'll do it," Ruby said. Tai whipped around to her.

"Ruby please," he tried. She gave him a pout.

"I wanted to be a huntress like mom. She would've done it too," she claimed. Tai went silent. He didn't have the heart to tell her that Summer died with that mentality.

"Roman, you down for a road trip?" Qrow asked. The thief looked to Neo and Glynda. Neo shrugged and Glynda sighed.

"I suppose it's better than standing around and doing nothing," Glynda said. Tai relaxed a little.

"Well, if Glynda is joining you on this then I guess you won't be _completely_ irresponsible," Tai said quietly. Yang laughed.

"Guess we're back in the saddle again huh?" Yang asked. Ruby laughed but it was short lived as she realized something.

"Where's everyone else?" Ruby asked. Yang went quiet at that.

"Well... Blake said she needed to go home and deal with the Fang in Menagerie. She said she'd be back as soon as possible but that she had to deal with this," Yang said, a somber look on her face. It wasn't everyday your partner just left for an indiscriminate period of time.

"And Weiss?" Ruby asked. Yang winced.

"Her dad came and abducted her," Roman answered instead. Ruby gasped.

"Like an alien!?" she cried. Roman was about to correct her but shook his head.

"Yeah, like an alien," Roman said.

"He was certainly unbearable to deal with," Glynda growled, remembering how Jaques had been when he'd arrived.

"Team JNPR had already agreed to come to Mistral, especially with Nikos and those other two being from Mistral already. The blonde one just went with em for the hell of it," Qrow stated. Suddenly the door opened again and someone carrying boxes came in. Over the top of the box stack, they could make out a small amount of silver hair.

"Roman, I got that stuff you asked for," Mercury said as he placed the boxes in a corner. He looked up and saw Ruby and Neo.

"Oh. Welcome back to waking world," he greeted with a smile. Neo slugged his arm and he slugged back, the two laughing at one another.

"The twins are out in the car. They uh, 'found' it after the fall and repurposed it," Mercury saidm Roman laughed.

"That's a little bit of Junior shining through," he claimed. They looked outside and saw a van that looked quite durable.

"Holy shit it's Neo!" Miltia yelled. The girl fell out of the door as Melanie ran around from the other side. The two tackled the mute girl and held her tight.

"You like, scared the shit out of us!" Melanie said. Neo giggled silently.

"Roman told us we should stay nearby so we told Junior we were moving out for a while. Helped us supe up the car so it could take a beating," they explained.

"Change of plans you three. We're Mistral bound now," Roman said. They all sighed.

"Damn, and I was just getting comfy," Mercury groaned. The twins laughed at him.

"Yeah, in _our _apartment," they quipped. Mercury put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Please be careful you two," Tai stressed as he hugged Ruby and Yang.

"What about me?" Qrow asked. Tai looked him up and down.

"Roman will probably take care of you," he claimed. Qrow whipped his attention to Roman. The man shrugged.

"Eh, fifty-fifty," he said. They all laughed as Qrow pouted. Yang made a call to Nora, who picked up and yelled so loud they could all hear her before Yang even put the scroll on speakerphone.

"Nora! We're leaving soon! Rally the troops!" Yang said. She received an 'aye aye' and then hung up, not before they all heard her scream at her team to start moving.

"Alrighty then," Roman said as he stood, "thanks for the bed Tai. I owe ya one."

"Please don't. Whatever you give me is probably stolen," he pleaded. Roman shrugged.

"Your loss."

"Ignore him," Glynda said as she dragged the thief from the house, "goodbye Tai, it was nice seeing you again."

Tai waved as most of the room cleared, only Ruby and Yang remaining.

"Be safe for me girls," he whispered as her hugged them both. The two hugged him back and stayed there for a while.

"I love you both," he said.

"Love you too Dad," they replied. They broke away and went about grabbing their stuff. When they had it all they hugged Tai one last time before closing the door.

"Alright! Yang, get on your bike, Mercury is with you," Roman commanded.

"Why do I have to ride bitch?" Mercury complained.

"Because I said so!" Roman said. Mercury stuck his tongue out and hopped on with Yang. The rest piled into the large van and sat snugly against each other. Obviously this was a delivery van of some kind, since there was a lot more room than some normal minivan.

The twins took the front seats, having the right with it being their car (appropriated or otherwise) and the other nine people crammed in the back. It was fairly stamped, but it was far better than walking.

"Wait, Roman, what _was _in the boxes Mercury left in our house?" Yang asked. Roman looked over.

"I have no idea what you mean," Roman stated, "I was just showing Tai my appreciation."

* * *

Meanwhile Tai had accidentally bumped into the stack of boxes and the contents spilled across the floor.

"What in the hell?" he mumbled. On the floor was a pile of what appeared to be bottles.

"Why'd he leave these here?" Tai asked himself. Zwei barked up and sniffed the boxes. Tai looked through the contents. On top was a note that read '_Thanks for the place to stay- R_' and that was all. Inside the boxes were bottles which upon further inspection were filled with expensive liquor that one would only find at breweries.

"Why do I get the feeling that all of this was stolen?" he asked as he popped one of the bottles open. He took a sip and hummed. Not bad. Maybe he'd let that one slide. Besides, it's not like _he _stole it or anything. It was a gift!

* * *

"You mean with all that alcohol you stole?" Melanie asked from the driver's seat. Roman shushed her and she rolled her eyes.

"It's not stealing when the owners aren't using it anymore! It's adoption by that point," he claimed. They all had a laugh at the man's antics.

The road ahead was a long one. And Mistral probably held its own world of problems for them. It'd be good to get away from the city for a while.

"Alright kiddos! Let's hit the road!" Roman said. Melanie turned the key and the van rumbled. Seeing the car start, Yang kicked off the engine on Bumblebee and started following behind.

Chew yipped from Neo's lap and she shushed him. He licked her hand and they all looked out the rear windows as Vale grew smaller and smaller. The next few months would be different from Beacon.

It was time to get serious.

* * *

"Cinder," a figure asked from an ebony throne.

"What happened to your face?" she asked. Cinder growled and another person nearby chuckled.

"It would appear dear Cinder was a little too confident in her abilities," a man said. Another man cackled from across her. Cinder rasped as she tried to speak but no words escaped her.

"Uh, right then," the woman said, "you can just... take care of that by yourself."

Cinder sat in her misery. Whatever that whore had done, it'd left her looking and feeling... shall one say, like a piece of beef jerky. She had a new vendetta against one Ruby Rose.

"Cinder that meant leave," the woman said. Cinder made to protest but the throne figure waved her hand.

"No! No arguing! You look like a foot right now. It's honestly a little bit offensive," they pointed out. Cinder seethed and stood, limping out of the room to where Emerald waited.

"My queen, are you at all interested in how Cinder's current position came to be?" the man asked.

"Yes Watts, cut to the chase would you? Who did this?" the woman asked, bored. Watts bowed and slid her a scroll. She gazed upon the screen, swiping through and looking at the various people involved in the defense of Beacon. She stopped and gasped as she was struck by one of the figures shown. They. Were. _Gorgeous._

"Watts!" she called. He was by her side in an instant.

"Yes my queen?" he drawled. She pointed to the scroll.

"Who is... this," she breathed. He looked at the person currently displayed. He humphed.

"That would be Cinder's main conspirator. A no-name street thief by the name of Roman Torchwick," Watts answered. Salem shuddered.

"There weren't such... fine specimens like this around in my day," she sighed. The rooms occupants all looked to one another. Did she really just say what they thought she said?

"Watts, Tyrian, Hazel. New orders for you all," she said immediately. A large man, Hazel, nodded and Watts bowed quietly.

"Of course my goddess!" a scorpion faunus, Tyrian, bowed, "For you, I'd pull the sun from the sky and—"

"Yes yes, very good Tyrian," she cut him off and he pouted.

"What do you require of us my queen?" Hazel rumbled. She sighed at the picture.

"If we are to come across these people, which is very likely if Cinder's appearance means anything, I want you to keep this one alive," she demanded. They all nodded but Tyrian stepped forward.

"B-but my goddess! What do you see in one as unskilled as him!?" he asked, trying to keep the envy from his voice. She smiled at the picture and looked up more online, finding various shots of the man and even a forum from Beacon about the hottest teachers. He was number one for the male staff.

"He looks like a man who knows his way around a woman," she growled. Hazel coughed into his fist and Watts choked a little. Tyrian straight up fainted.

"Roman Torchwick hm? Yes, you have all that Ozma had and then some," she laughed as she studied the thief's features.

Off in a heavy duty van, Glynda shivered a little.

"Something wrong Glyn?" Roman asked, an arm around her shoulders. She looked around but settled back down.

"I suppose not. I just had a sudden intense bout of overwhelming and incredible bloodlust but I don't know why," she mumbled. He chuckled.

"Someone might be trying to steal me away from you," he teased. She laughed and squeezed his hand.

"Don't flatter yourself dearest," she said. They both chuckled as the van drove further and further away from Vale.

* * *

**And bad luck rears her ugly head.**

**That's it for season three. I have an intermittent chapter planned between this and the start of season four.**

**Speaking of which, season four and onwards will get pretty wild, mostly since I'm bringing along so many characters as well as keeping old ones alive.**

**Likewise, I had the idea to make Salem seem more human and less terrifying since I think she deserves a hug.**

**I'll try and keep chapters shorter and less sporadic like these ones, but sometimes you get to a point and you're like "shit I can't just stop right now" and then you go on for too long.**

**Alas, I am only human.**

**Remember to follow and favorite, and leave a review! Reading reviews is becoming more entertaining than actually writing! That and I love the feedback and support. Much love to you all who were here when I started this!**

**I hope you all have a wonderful time!**

**And please don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Blake has an awkward encounter on a boat**

Blake sighed as she stared off towards the ocean. She'd left to see how Menagerie was doing and maybe-possibly see her parents. As she walked along the ship to pass time, she bumped into someone. Unfortunately for both of them, they toppled to the floor and landed in a tangle of limbs.

"Ow... Sorry about that," Blake groaned. Right now whoever she bumped into was still tangled with her and she realized shortly after that whoever it was had their hand square on her ass.

Only a second later did she realize she also had her hand on the other person's ass. She blushed. This was about as awkward as it could get.

"W-wait... Blake?" a feminine voice asked from under her. Blake's eyes widened. She knew that voice. She looked at the person's face.

"Ilia?" Blake asked. Blake blushed more and Ilia literally went red. As in, her whole body turned red.

"Wh-what are you doing here!? Actually first and foremost; GET YOUR HAND OFF MY ASS!" Blake yelled.

"YOU GET _YOUR _HAND OFF _MY _ASS!" Ilia shouted back.

"I asked first!" Blake argued.

"We you have a nicer ass so I feel more entitled to touching it!" Ilia argued back.

"That doesn't make any sense you pervert!"

"Ohhh, says the girl with the collection of porn taking up her wall!"

"It's not porn!"

"Oh right, sorry, _erotic literature,_" Ilia said with quotation marks.

"Uh, ladies?" a male voice suddenly asked.

"WHAT!?" they both raged as they turned to the man. Said man was rocking back and forth and his yellow monkey tail dangled back and forth.

Wait.

Yellow monkey tail?

"Sun!?" Blake yelled.

"Sun?" Ilia asked, a jealous look in her eyes.

"Sun," Sun greeted as he held out a hand to Ilia. She didn't take and he just shrugged.

"So like, are you two gonna do it here or..." he trailed off. Finally they got off of each other and stood, arms crossed and backs to one another.

"I feel like I'm missing something here," he stated.

"Nope," Blake said quickly. Too quickly, one might say.

"Nothing at all," Ilia added just as quickly.

"So just... two friends... touchin' butts," he said.

"Yep," they both answered. A moment later they froze, turned red again, and looked at him. He was trying incredibly hard not to laugh out loud at them. He took a deep breath and relaxed a little, though the shit eating grin didn't leave his face.

"That's kinda hot," he quipped.

Both girls blushed harder.

This was going to be a long boat ride home.


	17. Chapter 17

**Here's that in-between chapter I was talking about. This is going to be the setup for what will now be the very broken timeline of the actual show.**

**With some many people present and alive, and obviously this being a humorous take on the show, a lot of things are going to be different.**

**With all that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

Roman was very uncomfortable.

The van ride was beginning to wear him down and he was beginning to understand how a claustrophobic person felt on a train. This was torture!

Not to mention that the kids had all been singing along to whatever the _garbage _the twins were playing was. Roman wasn't sure what the fuck a "Billy Eyelash" was but he knew that if he ever met them he'd personally beat them to death.

"I'm gonna do it. I'm jumping," Qrow mumbled. Roman pat the man's shoulder. He too was feeling the pain of being past his generation.

"How the hell does Glynda take this so well!?" Qrow grumbled. The thief shrugged and they both looked to the woman in question. As though sensing their looks, she cracked an eye open at them.

"Please don't break my concentration. I've been focusing on blotting out all noise for the last two hours."

Well that explained that well enough. The three sighed and continued to weather the storm that was pop music.

As though hearing their desperate pleas, the music was lowered and the twins posed a question.

"What exactly are we gonna do once we get to Mistral?" Miltia asked. They all looked to the adults. Roman and Glynda in turn looked to Qrow. The man looked around and swore.

"Well, that's pretty obvious. We're gonna... uh, we have to get... no that wouldn't make sense," he trailed off as he mumbled to himself.

"You don't know do you?" Roman tried. Qrow shrugged and shook his head. They all groaned.

"So we're just going to Mistral because a dead guy told you to?" Melanie asked. Qrow grumbled.

"That's just what Ozpin said! I assumed he'd have someone there to tell us what was going on!" Qrow protested. Roman was rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Did Ozpin say who that would be?" Roman tried. Qrow scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, he said it would be him," he answered. The car was silent for a spell. Glynda slowly turned to the drunk.

"What the hell Qrow?" she asked. Qrow threw his hands up.

"Look I didn't make the plan! Ozpin normally follows through on his word so I assumed he had something up his sleeve!" Qrow argued.

"Oh of course! Why wouldn't the dead guy follow through on his word he said _when he was alive,"_ Roman emphasized the last part. Glynda sighed and whistled.

"Enough of this. At the very least we can reconvene with Leonardo and see about situating ourselves there," she proposed. Qrow have a gesture of 'whatever' and tried to fall asleep. Roman and Glynda tried to do the same.

Then the music started again. The bloodlust was never stronger.

None of them even saw Qrow move before it was too late.

* * *

"You think they're all doing okay in there?" Mercury yelled from the back of Yang's bike. The two were tailing the van from behind, keeping up with the twins speed demon ways. They couldn't see through the tinted windows of the van, but it's not like there was anything interesting going on in there anyways.

"Probably! Not like there's anything in there that could hurt 'em!" Yang shouted back, swerving every now and then to avoid potholes in the earth or large rocks.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied. Just as the two were about to keep the conversation going, the back of the van opened and the limp form of Qrow could be seen tumbling out. Yang quickly swerved to the side and the drunk flew past and behind them. They were left staring ahead at the passengers still inside the van.

"Was that your uncle?" Mercury asked in shock.

"Ruby! Why did Qrow just toss himself out of the car!?" Yang yelled into the van. Ruby shrugged and the blonde sighed. What a crazy guy.

"Love the tunes!" Yang yelled in. It seemed that was the wrong thing to say in the moment.

"That's it! I can't take it anymore!" Roman screeched, throwing himself after Qrow. The space between the van and the bike were silent as the two men grew further and further away.

"Uh, Ms. Goodwitch? Do we go after them?" Ruby asked. The woman sighed.

"No I think Roman and Qrow are capable enough to catch up with us whenever they feel," Glynda stated. She looked Yang and Mercury in the eyes before closing the rear doors once more.

The two teens were silent for a spell before Mercury piped up again.

"Can you imagine having a robot arm or something? I feel like you'd be able to pull it off pretty well," the assassin questioned. Yang snorted.

"Yeah right! Who could ever even come close to cutting off one of my arms?" she asked back to the boy. The two laughed. Yeah, that was a little ridiculous.

* * *

Meanwhile, Roman stood up from the dirt road and dusted himself off. As he made sure he had all his belongings, he heard coughing from behind him. He turned and shook his head.

"You fell a hell of a lot harder than I did ya know?" Roman told Qrow as the drunk limped his way up the road. Qrow took a minute to breath before standing straight.

"And it _still _was better than enduring any more of that... that..." Qrow reached for the right word.

"Torture?" Roman tried. Qrow snapped and pointed at the thief.

"Perfect," he claimed. The two looked around, enjoying the silence and figuring out where they'd most likely find everyone now that they'd abandoned ship.

"You know where the next town is?" Roman asked as he looked in the direction the van had gone. Qrow shrugged.

"That way I think. If I remember there's a gas station or something like that over there too," he stated. Roman shrugged and the two began a light stroll towards the others.

"So what _are _we supposed to do once we get to Mistral?" Roman asked. Qrow shrugged once more.

"I don't really know. Meet Ozpin or whoever and hope?" he stated. Roman groaned and reached in his pocket. Finding his scroll he opened it and checked for a signal.

"Well, there's no way we can contact anyone outside of Vale right now but I think we can still use the radio function to keep in touch with the others," he mused. Qrow grunted in acknowledgement, taking out his flask and taking a swig. When he was done he held it in Roman's direction.

Taking the flask with a quick thanks, Roman took a sip and handed it back. It reminded him of his younger days, when he'd trek around Vacuo without a care in the world. Ah the good old days.

"What's got you smiling?" Qrow grunted. Roman shook his head gently.

"Just thinking of when I was a reckless kid back in Vacuo. Back when things were just a little bit easier," he said. Qrow laughed.

"You mean back when you were stealing and looting?" he laughed. Roman rolled his eyes.

"_Please, _there's barely anything to steal in Vacuo. I did most of my crime in Vale. Most of it," he stated. The two chatted for a while, every now and then taking a shot at the stray Grimm that crossed their path.

Finally, off in the distance they could make out a town. Roman squinted and turned to Qrow.

"That the place you mentioned?" he asked. Qrow nodded.

"Must be. If not it's better than nothing," he claimed. The sun was setting and there was a substantially higher chance of getting eaten while you were asleep than while you were awake.

"Well hopefully there's an inn or something. God forbid I have to sleep in that van with a bunch of kids... Wow that did _not _come out the way I thought it would," Roman winced. Qrow laughed at the man.

"Hey, it's better than sleeping behind a bar," Qrow assured. Roman gave him a sidelong glance.

"I'm sure you of all people know what that's like," he quipped. Qrow chuckled.

"I will neither confirm nor deny," he said. As the two men got closer to the gates of the town, they saw a very agitated Glynda standing by the gates. Roman gulped and Qrow stepped away from the man.

"Glyn! How was the car ride?" Roman asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"We arrived four and a half hours ago," she began, "and I cannot believe you both dodged being responsible for any of the kids by throwing yourselves out of the car."

"You're just jealous you didn't do it either!" Qrow exclaimed. Glynda lifted him with her semblance and tossed him into the village.

"Yeah okay, not my best," Roman agreed. Glynda sighed and turned.

"We've settled at an inn, be sure to thank Ms. Nikos for accommodating us," she said as she walked. He followed after and caught up, walking side by side with the woman.

"Unfortunately, we ran into an issue," she said. He groaned.

"Please tell me we lost one of the kids. At least then it's a loss we can deal with," he tried. She gave him a look and he whistled. She rolled her eyes.

"The van has broken," she said. Roman winced.

"Well that didn't last long," especially since Junior had just tweaked it.

"Yes well while it may have been repaired do try to remember that it was found in the wreckage following the attack on Beacon. That it lasted until here is a miracle really," she said. He hummed.

"So how are we getting to Mistral?" Roman asked. Glynda sighed.

"Against my better judgement we shall be traveling by foot," she sighed, "though I am hoping that Leonardo will have some form of good news for us when we arrive."

"Yeah well, Qrow doesn't seem to know what's waiting for us at Haven either," Roman added. The woman groaned and rubbed the sides of her head.

"Ozpin was never one to be specific when it came to finer details," she stated. Roman had to agree. After all, he'd been roped into teaching a bunch of brats for the last six or so months!

"Roman! Over here!" Ruby yelled. Roman looked up and saw Ruby leaning from the second story window of a large wooden building.

"If you fall make it look like an accident Red! That lawsuit money will come in handy!" he called up to the young reaper. She giggled and disappeared from the window.

"You're much better with the students than you give yourself credit for," Glynda claimed, sending him a sly smile. He laughed and waved her off.

"Please, kids are easy," he said, "adults are much harder to work with, always wanting things and trying to make awkward small talk."

Glynda laughed quietly and the two entered the inn. Once inside, Roman was greeted with the smell of a hearty meal and the sight of Qrow downing a fourth shot.

"Qrow, for shame. We haven't even been here an hour," Roman told the man off as he came up to him from behind. Qrow waved him away and flagged the bartender down for another shot.

"Aren't your nieces upstairs?" the crook asked. Qrow grunted.

"They're used to this, don't worry 'bout it," he groaned. Roman rolled his eyes. Glynda stepped forward and shot the bartender a glare. Sensing his imminent demise the man backed away and took Qrow's drink with him.

"What gives? It's not like we're going anywhere yet!" Qrow whined. The other two rolled their eyes.

"Qrow, go take a cold shower or something," Roman said as he nudged the man's slumped form. Qrow just grumbled.

"Leave him Roman, we already have to deal with the _other _children, we can't worry about him right now," Glynda stated, turning and taking the stairs up to the rooms. Roman gave Qrow another nudge in the kidney before following the woman up.

"So when are we heading out?" Roman asked. He wasn't a huge fan of staying in one place, years of living on the run made him accustomed to that life. Glynda hummed.

"Well, we should probably leave tomorrow. There's another active village pretty far from here and we can't waste time standing around," she said, thinking through the plan in her head.

"How long will it take to get to Mistral on foot?" Roman asked. She grimaced and opened the door to a room, gesturing the man in.

"We may be traveling for a few months and still be a ways away from seeing the kingdom" she said. Roman let out a deep sigh as he sat on one of the beds in the room.

"We don't even get a paycheck for this anymore," he groaned. The woman laughed and sat with him on the bed, leaning against his side.

"Yes well, I suppose we'll have to pick up some small jobs on the side," she suggested. He sighed once more.

"Taking jobs _and _traveling on foot? Red might be legal drinking age by the time we make it to Mistral," he joked. She let out a small huff of laughter and they both laid back stared up.

"Well here's to a new adventure eh?" Roman looked over to the woman. She looked back and they shared a brief kiss.

"Here indeed," she groused.

In the room across from them, the former students all sat in a circle. While they had three rooms among the ten of them, they had all been hanging out in Ruby, Yang, and Neo's room.

Currently they watched as Mercury down his sixth drink in the last half hour. The boy claimed to have the best tolerance out of all of them, and while nobody disputed the claim in the first place, he decided to prove them wrong anyways.

What they'd all failed to realize was that the alcohol he'd grabbed wasn't just some watered down drink, it was tried and true hard liquor. The boy didn't stand a chance.

"An-and then Pyrrha got shot in the chest and she died! And then I grew my legs back," he stammered, leaning heavily against Ren. The quiet boy rubbed his arm and Mercury started crying.

"I miss you Pyrrha!" Mercury cried. They all sent an awkward glance in the champions direction. Pyrrha looked unsure of... well, everything going on really.

"Uh, I miss you as well?" she tried. Evidently it was the wrong response.

"I can still hear her voice! But I can't feel my legs!" he said, rubbing at his leg area. About an hour ago they'd removed his legs so that he wouldn't pose a threat to anyone. Good thing too since he was starting to kick his stumps in an aggressive fashion.

"Ooookay, that's enough for you," Ruby said as she slipped the bottle from the boys hands. He promptly passed out onto Ren. Nora looked furious when Ren didn't make any move to remove the assassin. Neo made an executive decision to take a few steps away from the ginger.

"Man, I can't believe the school is gone," Jaune stated. It was indeed surreal that what was once the most well renowned school was now a desolate pile of stone and ash. Just a month ago they'd all been in classes and now they were all on the road!

"I for one welcome the chance to travel the world! Though I can't say exploding the school _and _the forest was what would give me the chance to do so..." Miltia mumbled. They chuckled at her thought, anything to lessen the severity of the actual situation they were in.

"You three are from Mistral right?" Melanie asked, pointing among Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha. They all nodded and the girl hummed.

"What's it like?" she asked. Ren and Nora made a face while Pyrrha grew a small smile.

"Argus is wonderful, and much less... seedy than Mistral the city," Pyrrha said, eyes closed as she thought of home. They turned to the totally-not-a-couple and gave them an expectant look.

"Weeeeell..." Nora started, trailing off and looking around.

"Mistral sucks," Ren said simply. They all stared at him, expecting elaboration. When the boy remained silent they all looked to Nora.

"Well he's right! Mistral kinda sucks! There's a lot of crime, and the class disparity is HUGE! Not to mention that outside of the city, villages rarely get any help," Nora listed. They stared at her, wide eyed at her sudden eloquence. She gave them all a look.

"What? I can talk smart too," she humphed, crossing her arms and turning her nose up.

"Great, so Mistral sucks and we're heading balls deep into the city with a bees dick amount of planning," Miltia complained. The rest couldn't help but agree. This wasn't shaping up to be the most interesting or fun journey they'd had.

Neo nudged Ruby's shoulder and pointed at the ball of fluff currently nestled in Pyrrha's lap. The champion seemed to be a dog person, yet another friend that Blake had shunned for the transgression, and the champion had been testing the limits to his aura with Neo and Ruby.

Currently, Pyrrha was allowing Chew to bite her gauntlets, the dogs aura sparking at his teeth when he clamped down. Pyrrha had said it was like teething for aura, or maybe more like working out. By allowing it to take small amounts of damage at a time with no real threat, aura would slowly strengthen over time. And so Chew was allowed to jump off of heights himself and bite hard objects.

Ruby let out a squee at the sight, the puppy trying his damndest to wrestle Pyrrha's gauntlet off. The champion hardly seemed to notice, she and Jaune discussing her family. Jaune seemed to be growing more and more pale at the prospect of meeting them.

_Can't blame him, _Neo thought, remembering the pain her spine felt after Taiyang's hug. Not to mention the blatant threat on her life. Speaking of which, she and Ruby didn't even tell anyone they had started seeing each other so how'd he learn!?

Roman was the most likely answer. The man knew Neo better than anyone. He probably assumed they were going out way earlier!

"Ow! What in the world?" Pyrrha suddenly yelped. They all turned to see Chew, teeth buried in Pyrrha's gauntlet and trying to tug the offending armor off.

"Did... did he just bite through your armor?" Ruby asked. Yang looked on in disbelief.

"Um, it would seem so, yes," Pyrrha winced as the dog continued to pull. Neo ran in and lifted the puppy up, chew still holding on to the champions arm for a moment before letting go.

"Wow, those are some powerful teeth," Yang pointed out as Neo brought the dog closer. The blonde looked in and noticed just how large and sharp they actually were.

"You sure Roman didn't get you a particularly hairy shark?" Yang asked. Neo rolled her eyes and observed the dogs mouth. Chew yipped and licked her face. She scrunched her face up and turned her mouth away as Ruby laughed at her.

"Speaking of the little guy, how's that armor coming along?" Jaune asked. Ruby jumped at the chance to talk about the design.

"Oh it's so awesome! When he gets big enough, which Goodwitch says should be in a few months because of his aura, he should be able to fit it! All we need is a forge or a blacksmith and we'll be able to put it together!" the young reaper said, too fast for most people in the room to really understand.

"Speaking of upgrades, I think you're in need of one Jaune," Pyrrha said as she looked her partner up and down.

"Like what?" he asked. She hummed.

"What if you changed up your sword a bit?" she proposed.

"Okay... what if I made the shield turn into a bigger sword!" he said. She looked at him and sighed.

"Jaune, perhaps you should invest in some, er, versatile functions," the champion tried. He hummed and scratched his chin.

"Okay what if the sword—" he was cut off by Neo.

_I think she means a gun Jaune, _she signed. He looked to Pyrrha and Neo made a gun with her fingers. The champion nodded.

"You really should invest in some form of ranged option," she suggested. He sighed and agreed. As the two talked over the possibilities, there was a knock at the door. Well, more of an angry banging.

"Shut up in there I'm trying to get some!" Roman hissed through the door. They all cringed and tried to blank the thought of the two adults procreating from their minds.

"Well that certainly killed the vibe," Melanie groaned. They all chuckled and decided to turn in for the night, the twins grabbing Mercury and Ren carrying his legs back separately.

"Alright you two, no funny business," Yang said when it was just the three of them. Ruby blushed and Neo stuck her tongue out at the girl.

Tomorrow they'd leave on foot for Mistral. Wasn't _that _exciting? No car, just open road and Grimm from every angle.

A total joy.

* * *

Weiss was in a bad mood.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was currently being held captive in her own home.

Maybe it was because she had to put up with her absolute twat of a brother and shitpipe of a father.

Maybe it was because she had just stubbed her toe unexpectedly and was currently laying in the fetal position on her large ornate bed, totally not crying and swearing the pain away.

Really she had a lot of reasons to be in such a dour state of being.

A knock from her door gained her attention. After another series of knocks she sighed.

"Enter," she said, bad mood exhausting her. The door opened gently and she let a genuine smile grace her features.

"Hello Ms. Schnee," a short and balding man greeted, one arm behind his back, the other holding a small platter with a cover on it.

"Hello Klein," she returned, sitting upright and fixing her slightly disheveled hair.

"Were you... crying, m'lady?" Klein asked, an eyebrow raised.

"No, you're imagining things," she said quickly. He let out a small chuff of laughter and brought the platter to her bedside table.

"Something to take the edge off, so to speak," he said gently. She smiled when he removed the cover. A small rainbow of cakes and other sweets were laid out across the plate.

"Thank you Klein. You really make this place feel less like a prison," she said. He chuckled before twitching as his eyes turned red.

"If I had it my way I'd smack your Pa and your brother upside the 'ead for acting like such piles of shit," he growled. She giggled at his strange change in behavior. It was normal to her by this point, after so many years of having him in her service. Thinking of normal, she remembered her team and friends and sighed sadly.

"If only I had a way of getting in touch with my team," Weiss mumbled. Klein perked up and fumbled around.

"Oh! That reminds me!" he said as he reached in his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. Weiss took it when it was handed to her. The only thing written on the letter was "For Weiss."

"Who is this from?" the heiress asked. Klein gave her an apologetic look.

"I'm afraid there was no return address. Furthermore, there's no way whoever sent this would know where you would be at this moment," the butler said confusedly. Weiss sighed and opened the letter, reading over what was clearly somebody else's handwriting.

"Wait a minute..." Weiss narrowed her eyes, scanning the letter, "this is from... Neo?"

"Who?" Klein asked. Weiss smiled and tried to find a way to explain the enigma that was Neo.

"She's... a friend. One who may or may not live above the law," Weiss stated. Klein looked concerned but she waved him off.

"Interesting... what are they doing going to Mistral?" she wondered aloud.

"Mistral? How on Remnant were they planning on getting to Mistral?" Klein asked. Weiss read the short letter again but the information was sparring at best.

_Hey Weiss, it's Neo. I know you're being held prisoner but we're all heading to Mistral. I don't know what we're doing there but Ruby and Yang's uncle seems hell-bent on getting there. Stay safe and meet us there! Remember to think like me! Murder is only murder if they find the body!_

Weiss was trying not to think about how 'thinking like Neo' probably meant something along the lines of 'kill your family' and them had to try not to think about how she actually_ considered_ it.

"It looks like I'm needed in Mistral," Weiss said throwing the letter away. Klein sent a weary look her way.

"How do you plan on doing that exactly?" Klein asked. Weiss shook her head and winced.

"I have no idea," Weiss said. Surely she couldn't just threaten her way out of the manor and all the way to Mistral. Nobody would just let that happen!

Well, nobody with hunter training would let that happen.

And her father was definitely not hunter trained.

"No, bad," she said to herself, shaking her head to rid the thought.

"Weiss?" Klein asked in concern over the girls sudden lapse in thought.

"It's nothing Klein," Weiss replied. It was silent for a spell while Weiss mulled over something.

"Klein?" she asked suddenly. He stood at attention.

"Yes m'lady?" he responded.

"Does father keep any weapons on his person or in his office?" she asked. He looked skeptical at the request.

"Erm, not that I'm aware of?" he said unassured of the girls intentions.

"Hmm, I see," she said. Again it was silent and Klein was beginning to feel like he should leave her alone. As he turned and excused himself Weiss watched the door close behind him.

"I really shouldn't," she said aloud. Her eyes drifted down to the case that she had hastily stored under her bed. Inside was Myrtenaster, her beloved rapier.

"Think like Neo, huh?" she wondered.

Nobody said she had to _actually_ hurt anyone.

"Perhaps I'll think on it later," she said as she stood and stretched. She ignored how enticing the thought of holding her father at sword point was.

She would think of another way to Mistral.

No matter how easy the Neo way sounded.

_Shit, I really want to though._

* * *

"Blake, I really don't need to hear this from you," Ilia groaned. Blake had been going on and on about the Fang and all the bad things they'd been doing.

"But you can't keep working with them!" The raven haired girl yelled.

"Uh, yeah I can? And it'll probably be easier now that Adam is dead," she said. Blake hissed at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Are you seriously broken up about the crazy guy who tried to kill your friend on multiple occasions?" Sun asked. Blake placed a finger over his lips and kept her glare on Ilia.

"The Fang can't keep up with these attacks! You're just painting a target for Atlas to carpet bomb Menagerie!" Blake claimed.

"They were probably thinking about doing it already!" Ilia argued.

"And you're just giving them a reason!" Blake shouted.

"Oh here we go with the yelling again," Sun moaned.

"You get used to it," Ilia told. Blake hissed and Ilia rolled her eyes.

"You, go somewhere else. I'll deal with you later," Blake said to the boy. Sun put his hands up in surrender and backed away.

"Just try not to start a shoot out on the ship. I don't think the captain would approve," he said as he walked off. Blake spun back around after making sure he was gone and resumed her glare on Ilia.

"Look Blake, I don't know what you want from me. I'm not even the leader here," Ilia said. Blake sighed.

"I'm aware that Sienna is in charge but that doesn't mean you have to do what she says!" Blake claimed.

"Uh, she's kinda the leader. Last time I checked that's exactly what that means," Ilia said. Blake flicked the girls forehead and Ilia yelped.

"And what's Sienna planning now?" Blake asked. Ilia gave her a look of disbelief.

"You expect me to just tell you?" she asked incredulously. Blake had the decency to look a little sheepish. She didn't account for the possibility of Ilia saying no.

"Listen. I don't have the patience to deal with you," Ilia growled, "I'm going to the other side of the boat. You and that other guy can have this side."

"You can't just walk away from me!" Blake claimed. Ilia laughed her off.

"Who are you my mom? I'm absolutely gonna just walk away," Ilia said as she began moving. Blake made to chase but Ilia stopped her.

"How about you focus on your family, and I focus on the Fang? That way, I don't have to deal with you whining," she offered. Blake nearly started another argument when Sun stopped her.

"Okay, we're gonna walk the other way now," he said. Blake squawked.

"I thought you left!" she yelled. He laughed.

"Nah, I don't trust you not to get into trouble," he said as he dragged her off. She hissed at him and he shrugged.

"Nice meeting you!" Sun called back as the two rounded the corner. Ilia sighed and rolled her shoulders.

"Hopefully those creepy brothers have a new plan. One that involves less exploding," she whispered to herself as she walked around the ship.

That and since Adam was planning on killing Sienna she had no idea what they were doing now.

"Well, I'd rather him dead than her," she sighed. Good riddance too.

That guy was an asshole.

* * *

"My queen?" Watts asked. Currently they all sat assembled at the large table in the throne room. Rather than explain why they were there, Salem had been swiping through a scroll and ignoring them.

"Uh, my goddess? Are you unwell?" Tyrian asked, concerned for the well being of his beloved queen. She had been very quiet as of late, and not in the scheming kind of way, in the 'strange that she wasn't scheming' kind of way.

"Hm? Oh yes I forgot I called you all here," she said, placing the scroll down. She tented her fingers in front of her and gazed among all of them.

"Cinder?" Salem prompted. Cinder straightened and gave the woman her attention.

"Yes?" she rasped, her voice still ruined from that insufferable red whore's magic eye lasers.

Salem placed a hand on the scroll she had been using and slid it over to the scarred girl. Cinder grabbed the device and scowled.

"What can you tell me about this man?" Salem asked, eyes alight. Cinder nearly growled as she looked at the image.

"Nothing good," she hissed. Salem raised an eyebrow.

"Come now Cinder, I know he thwarted your plans but you must learn to forgive and forget," the Grimm woman claimed. They all sent her a shocked look, Tyrian even falling out of his chair and onto the ground.

Wasn't that a bit hypocritical? Salem telling someone else to forgive and forget? Ozpin must've been rolling in his grave.

"There's nothing I can tell you, my mistress. All I know is that he has a daughter who—" Cinder was cut off as Salem flew across the table and grasped her by her shoulders.

"He's married!?" she cried. Cinder looked behind her to see Watts shaking his head and swiping his hand past his neck back and forth in a 'say nothing's gesture. She couldn't help but agree.

"Err, no?" she replied. Salem visibly deflated, sighing in relief as she put a hand to her chest.

"So he's not married and he's a good dad? This man gets better and better..." she mused. Hazel looked visibly put off, a rarity for the normally stoic man. Watts looked like someone had told him math wasn't real and that his life was a lie. Tyrian...

Tyrian looked dead. Not even in the 'oh he's just unconscious' way. He was pale, and his eyes had rolled back. His mouth hung open in agony and his tail had curled up.

"My queen, please," Cinder tried, "he's really not worth—"

"Enough! I've made my decision!" Salem announced. Like that they all snapped back to attention, Tyrian sitting up and wiping drool from his face.

"What is our assignment, my liege," Hazel asked. Salem closed her eyes and hummed, tilting her head back and forth in contemplation.

"We need to head to Mistral anyways, check in on Leonardo," Salem said. Watts nodded and began preparations on his scroll.

"We also need to locate whoever made Cinder look like a rat," Salem said. Cinder growled lowly.

"But our first order of business is to get me this man," she said, holding up the scroll she'd been on.

On the screen was a picture taken the day of the breach in Vale. Roman stood smiling with a larger man and a skinny green haired man. His whole person was in view. His stunning eyes, his luscious hair, his manly but supple looking body.

"Oh yes, he's _definitely_ priority number one," Salem said in a husky voice. They all had to refrain from hurling and instead opted for leaving the room. Salem sat alone, going over the footage the media had of the man.

"Truly there's nothing stopping me from having him," she laughed, "he's just ripe for the tak—"

She froze and let out a bowl of rage. The doors were flung open and her minions all stood at the ready.

"What's wrong my queen!?" Tyrian shouted. Salem glared down at the scroll, hissing at what she was looking at.

On the screen was an image from a tabloid. Roman and another woman were stood together hand in hand, dressed formally and looking incredibly good at that.

What made Salem seeth was the fact that they were kissing ever so lightly.

"_NEW _NEW PLAN!" Salem shouted, rumbling the tower.

"Bring me _her _too. Alive. I want to deal with her myself," she growled at the image. They all looked to each other and sighed.

They didn't get paid enough for this.

Actually, they didn't get paid at all.

Damn.

* * *

"Aren't we supposed to be leaving right now?" Qrow asked as he and Roman stood outside of a tailors storefront. Glynda was checking the time every minute, as though hoping the constant motion would speed things up.

"The kids said they needed to 'shed their old skin' and get new outfits," Roman said with air quotes. Glynda groaned.

"Don't they understand what a schedule is? It's been nearly an hour!" she complained. As though finally hearing their complaints, the young hunters all exited the store.

"Finally, you know how unnecessary an outfit change is?" Roman asked. Neo rolled her eyes and flipped him off. As she and Roman got into a small fistfight, Ruby watching from the sidelines, they all took a moment to admire their new outfits. It seemed none of the young criminals had any desire to buy as they all had the same outfit. Well, almost all of them.

"Okay okay! Get off of me you little bastard!" Roman grumbled, pushing Neo away. She stuck her tongue out at him. Neo's outfit had stayed more or less the same, but for two accessories in her hair. Two hairpins were present where her hair turned from brown to pink. One was a small pair of cherries, the other was a strawberry. Roman rolled his eyes at the subtle meaning of the two.

"Cute," he toned. She flipped him off again and they both returned to the group. Roman looked over their outfits.

Ren had let his hair down and done away with his normal jacket. Instead he had two thin pink sleeves that stopped just short of his shoulders.

Nora had donned a new red and navy blue jacket and was busy trying to do Ren's hair. He didn't seem to mind but also had the face of a man that knew he didn't have a choice either way.

Jaune and Pyrrha looked about the same. The only difference was that Jaune was now wearing a bronze circlet similar to Pyrrha's own tiara, only slightly bulkier, looking more like a small crown. Pyrrha had black a form fitting, yet dense looking bodysuit under her normal armor.

At Jaune's behest, Pyrrha had opted to wear a layer of under armor. When she asked why he was so concerned, he simply said that he'd rather she didn't get stabbed in the tit.

She couldn't disagree with him on that. She also didn't want to be stabbed in the tits.

"Can we leave now? The later it gets the more work we have to do," Roman whined. They all gave varying forms of agreement and began heading towards the town gates.

Chew followed behind happily, sniffing here and there and getting a sense of the world beyond the kingdoms. He looked up and tilted his head at a black bird.

"Arf arf!" he barked up at the bird. Ruby and Neo followed his gaze to the raven and watched as it flew away, startled by the dog.

"You gotta be quiet Chew! If you do that to every animal then the Grimm will always know where we are!" Ruby said. The dog whined and watched the bird go. Neo raised an eyebrow at him. He'd never been this bent up about the birds in the city. So what was wrong here?

Many yards away a raven landed in a small clearing in the woods. It peered around before shifting into a full grown woman.

* * *

"Rrgh. Damn dog. Hate those things..." the woman claimed as she brushed feathers out of her hair. She had been out getting provisions for her tribe when she noticed a very familiar asshole standing around the corner. With Glynda Goodwitch and some petty thief at that!

She sighed as she tore her sword free from its sheath and sliced the air. Soon after, a dark red and black portal came into existence and she stepped through.

"Raven? That was fast," a girl with very short hair commented, standing in attention as Raven slumped onto the couch in her tent. She reached behind her and grabbed a glass bottle, popping it open and drinking from it without even checking to see what the contents were.

"Yes Vernal, I had to cut the trip short. And this is why I send you out to do it!" Raven scolded, Vernal shrinking back when she snapped.

"Yes but I only just got back from—" she was cut short when Raven shoved a finger to her face.

"Shshsh," Raven tsked, "forget it. We have other things to worry about."

"Like what?" Vernal asked, tilting her head. Raven growled.

"It looks like Ozpin has my idiot of a brother skulking around Sanus," Raven swiped at her mouth as she downed the rest of the drink and slammed the empty bottle onto the table in front of her, mumbling about how the drink tasted like shit.

"Doing what?" the younger woman asked. She didn't have the heart to point out that Raven had just chugged a bottle of cough medicine. She wasn't the kind of person to take feedback well. Especially when she was in one of her moods.

"Seems like he's rounded up a motley crew of misfits to establish a base in Mistral," she said, staring off into the distance. Vernal noted that she did that a lot when she thought about her brother or her old team and Beacon.

"Why does that matter to us though?" she asked, confused as to why it had the older woman in such a slump. Raven blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"Because we're set up in Mistral. And Qrow is one persistent bastard. He'll look all around for me and give me the 'you need to help' speech. And whenever that particular talk gets brought up, Ozpin is soon to follow," Raven explained. Vernal hummed. Raven hated Ozpin more than she hated dogs. Why she hated dogs so much she would never tell. Rumor was that something happened and a dog bit her tail. But she didn't have a tail. Was that a double entendre?

As Vernal thought about why a dog would bite Raven's tail, Raven herself was contemplating what she had seen.

"So Ozpin's got himself a new little army. We'll see how well they do when they eventually learn the truth," she mused to herself. Ozpin had lied to her and almost trapped her in his schemes.

She refused to let him try again, be it through her brother or himself.

If only Qrow had believed her.

"You'll find out in time, brother," she sighed. For some reason she suddenly felt very tired.

"Raven? Raaaaaven? Whoo boy," Vernal groaned as she watched Raven's gaze become foggy and the woman slumped back. Her head lolled too and fro and there was a small amount of drool falling from her mouth.

"Damn. Now I gotta take care of her _and _get more cough syrup!" Vernal swore.

Another day in the life of a bandit.

* * *

**A short chapter (and what I personally see as my most frantic and least substantial chapter).**

**As I said this is just a simple in between chapter, only meant to get the season in motion. Season four is pretty slow, so I had to find a few ways to make things more exciting.**

**And what's more exciting than walking right?**

**At any rate, I just finished my first semester of college! It was fun. And exhausting. But I still have enough spirit to write this fic!**

**Remember to favorite and follow, it makes me feel better about myself, and leave a review! I read them all!**

**Until then, please everyone have a lovely time (and a happy holidays!).**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Ozpin Returns**

Oscar Pine considered himself to be a fairly normal boy. He wasn't the smartest, but was far from the dumbest. He was strong for a young boy his size, farm work would do that to a person, but his strength paled in comparison to that of a hunters.

He sighed as he fed a row of horses. It was another boring day on the farm. No clouds, lots of hat, very few girls.

God were there no girls.

Oscar was hardly seeking a partner, or even sex, but the farm was so boring and lonely, and he rarely saw anyone aside from when he went to town for the market.

His mind was drifting from the markets. Sales of his family's crops and what he had to but for the house faded away as he thought of a cute blonde farm girl he'd seen the other week. She had such pretty eyes and a charming smile. Of course he'd never actually spoken to her, he wasn't confident in that ability, but he watched her as she sold her own family's crops.

His mind drifted yet again to how the rest of her body looked. Strong yet smooth arms, and the way that her overalls hugged her hips. He started to have thoughts about _that _particular part of her.

"_Oh for love of— this is _so _messed up," _a voice suddenly commented. Oscar yelped and blushed, swinging around and searching for the person who'd spoken.

"Wh-who's there?" he asked. The barn was empty, except for the horses. He looked around, confused.

"_Deep breaths Ozma, this isn't the most awkward body you've been in," _the voice said again. Oscar whispered as he searched the barn.

Was he going crazy?

"_No."_

He was definitely going crazy.

"_No you're not, don't worry about it."_

He promptly passed out. A nearby horse sniffed him and nudged his still form. He didn't budge.

"_Goddamnit," _Ozpin sighed. At least it couldn't get any worse.

Wait. What was...

"_Oh come on!" _Ozpin groaned. It seems even in his sleep, his new host was very... active with his imagination. Active, _and_ frustrated, it seemed.

"_It's like repeat nine all over again," _he mused. He never talked about repeat nine.

"_Just kill me again," _he sighed.

He was in for a long ride.


	18. Chapter 18

**TIME SKIP TO SEASON 4 GO!**

**And thank you for your kind words~**

**Happy holidays and New Year!**

* * *

Pain.

Roman was currently in a lot of pain.

Emotionally? Perhaps.

Physically? Without a doubt.

The reason? Probably the giant Grimm gorilla thrashing him around like a sock monkey.

"Glyn! A little help!?" he screamed. From his viewpoint, everything was upside down, and he could vaguely make out her form.

And now everything was right side up again. He sighed and thanked the Brothers he didn't have motion sickness.

"Roman I'm coming!" the woman shouted back, throwing a few beringels back before shooting a purple blast his way. While it may have looked like the trajectory was off, they'd been fighting together now for a few months, and Roman was a fast learner.

Throwing his cane up he caught the magic missile and swung it back, bringing the purple blast into the gorillas groin.

Yes, Roman had learned that Glynda's magic missiles (which he and the kids had started calling the 'fuck you blasts') were actually pretty much solids and could have their trajectory changed with another solid. Roman had taken to redirecting a few of them during combat for his own purposes.

The beast roared it's pain, dropping the crook and exploding when Roman shoved his cane in it's mouth and pulled the trigger.

"Thanks hon!" he yelled behind him as he jumped back to avoid a large fist from another beringel.

Glynda herself just erupted the ground around her, setting fire to the small town square they were fighting in.

"Uh, I think they'd want us to be a little more careful here and not, ya know, set the place on fire?" Qrow called from his place a few meters away from them. Glynda rolled her eyes as she lifted a creep into the air and threw it into a nevermore overhead, killing both.

"Everything's already on fire! The time for caution has passed," she claimed as she shot forth a wave of electricity that snaked its way through three beowolves.

"She's got ya there!" Roman said as he too threw away any pretenses of keeping any surrounding buildings in tact. He shot three flares out, the first two striking an ursa major and the beringel he'd dodged. The third hit the base of a clock Tower, rattling the structure. As the two massive Grimm encroached on him, he merely stepped to the side, just as the two giants were in front of him, the tower crashed down, crushing both with a muffled gurgle.

Qrow sighed and he too torn into the Grimm with no regards to the town that was biting around them.

Hopefully his nieces were doing better with their job than them.

* * *

Neo dodged out of the way of a giant stone fist. The geist they were all fighting had taken control of a few trees and boulders and had made itself a massive body. Team MMMN, Ruby, and Yang were taking care of this while team JNPR was clearing out the surrounding area.

The creature let out a strange roar that sounded more like a loud groan. It swung its tree trunk arm in a wide arc, taking out a few other trees as it did. He arm was stopped when Yang stepped in front of her and grabbed the trunk, bracing it against the whole of her body and keeping it in place.

The twins jumped and spun past the blonde, rendering the tree arm to pieces. The Grimm hissed as it lost an arm and made to attack with the other. Before it could, Ruby sped past and cut it off near the shoulder area, leaving it with only a small stump for an arm.

"Mercury! Yang! Kickbox!" Ruby yelled. The two mentioned ran past her and leapt into the air. Yang grabbed Mercury's arm, spinning him and gaining momentum before hurling the boy spinning towards the Grimm. Mercury shouted out as he spun with one leg outstretched.

He landed with a loud crack and the boulder shattered. As the geist flew from the boulder it hissed and tried to run. Unfortunately, Yang had yet to land and chose to do so on the poor beast.

"Ragh!" she cried as she drove her fist into it's small frame, crushing it down towards the earth and into the dirt. It didn't even make another noise as it dissolved upon impact.

"Kickbox? Didn't we agree not to call it that?" Mercury asked as he made sure his leg was still okay after the powerful impact. Yang blew a strand of hair from her face.

"Yeah, wasn't our team attack name 'fight club' or something?" the brawler questioned. Ruby huffed and stomped a foot.

"No, Fight Club is you two and the twins! You guys are the fight, they're the club!" Ruby said as though she were an angry director having to correct everyone on her vision.

"Wait, I thought kickbox was me and Mel's move?" Miltia asked as she waltzed up to them. Melanie followed and nodded with her sister. Ruby looked like she was about to blow a gasket.

"NO! You two are double trouble!" Ruby shouted. Neo shook her head and covered Ruby's mouth as the reaper continued to try and tell everyone off.

"Aaaanyways," Yang started, "let's go see if JNPR has finished up."

As they all walked back towards the town they had stopped by to restock and rest, they saw a large plume of smoke from the next town over.

"You think Qrow and the newlywed's are okay?" Yang asked. Neo punched her arm and the blonde laughed.

_They aren't married! _Neo's scroll claimed. Yang laughed more and the two got into a poke fight.

"They're probably fine. Those three are professionals!" Ruby said. As they left the clearing they were fighting in, a Russel came from the bushes. They all dropped and we're ready to start fighting again when...

An absolutely giant beast leapt from the bushes, easily the size of a regular adult bear (which was still pretty damn big, Grimm or not) and tackled Neo. It's mouth open and descended down towards her face.

As Neo sputtered, Ruby cheered.

"Chew!" she cried. He looked up and into the eyes of his master's lover. He licked her face too and she giggled. Mercury whistled as he looked at the dog standing tall.

Although he was still only about a year old now, the dog had grown immensely, a result of having aura no doubt assisting in his increased size. He stood at about four and a half feet tall on all fours. Mercury had mercy on whoever got him angry enough to stand on his hind legs.

His coat had remain fluffy but was not to be mistaken as the bulk of his form. Underneath his three inches of groomed fluff (Neo made sure he was trimmed regularly) was a muscular form that they'd seen take a tree down with a tackle.

And his teeth. 'Monstrous' was the best word for them. Each tooth was easily an inch or more long, and at least half as thick. He truly resembled a bear more than a dog now, if not for the overall shape of his body and head. It was as if somebody had fused the two animals together and Chew was what came out of it.

_How was he? _Neo asked as JNPR stepped from the brush. They all looked a little tired but otherwise appeared fine. Jaune struggled with his new weapon, Pyrrha gently guiding his hands until he managed to reload and cock the thing.

"He was great. Definitely improving faster than we thought," the blonde boy said as he slung his new firearm over his shoulder. Yes, Pyrrha had finally managed to get him to use a gun. It was funny to all of them as they watched him learn how to shoot. He was a natural aim, but didn't know the mechanics of a gun and had to get a crash course from Ruby and Pyrrha.

The gun was nothing spectacular, Jaune had requested as much. It was an average sized assault rifle that switched between bolt action and automatic fire. It was a dark silver, and had gold and copper accents around it. His shield had also been slightly modified, a small divot now at the top of the heater shield that allowed him to mount the gun in place and shoot from behind cover.

Chew barked and licked Pyrrha and Jaune now as well. The dog had taken to treating them almost as well as he did Neo and Ruby, and so Neo had suggested they start seeing how well he did apart from herself.

"C'mon, let's get back to the village. Hopefully we can get moving again soon," Ruby suggested, Neo nodding along quickly. They all agreed and headed back. They all knew the real reason the two were so excited to get back.

They missed the clocktower from the next town over crashing down to the ground.

* * *

"You kids really like being a pain in my ass dontcha?" Roman asked as he shrugged off his coat and gave it to Qrow to take inside the inn. Neo and Ruby laughed as they dragged him to the local forgery in the village. Roman, Glynda, and Qrow had only just gotten back from the next town over, having lead the survivors to this village. They had thanked the three adults and one of the women had even come onto Qrow. Qrow didn't get a chance to act on that before Glynda and Roman dragged him away. Chew barked and trotted behind them.

"Let the kids have their fun Roman," Glynda said as she walked beside his dragged form. He shook his head and stood, finally walking behind them. As they entered the smithy, a man greeted them.

"It's you lot again!" he said, seemingly surprised at the speed in which they handled things. Ruby saluted.

"The Grimm have been dealt with!" she claimed. Glynda nodded her head towards the direction they came from.

"And the next town has been successfully evacuated," she assured. The man thanked them and shook Ruby's hand with a little too much energy.

"Oh thank you so much! You've done us a great service," he claimed, finally letting go of the young girls hand, "Oh! And that request you made is done!"

Ruby and Neo looked excited and Chew muscled his way between them and put his head on the countertop. The smithy laughed and went into the back room for a moment before returning with a box.

"Here ya go! One shiny new set of armor!" he said. They opened the box and took out all the pieces, marveling over each one. They looked at each other and nodded, Neo holding Chew still as Ruby attached each piece where it should be.

When they were done they stood back and admired the work.

Chew stood at his impressive height, and didn't seem to even notice the armor he was wearing. On his head was a small metal helmet that fit over the top of his head but left the underside of his head uncovered so he could still use his mouth. There were two holes where his ears poked out.

Along his back was a few smaller plates that protected his spine, and then two larger plates halfway down the line of spine plates that hung down and over his sides, protecting him from being attacked from either side.

He also had two plates that protected his flank, one large plate hanging down towards each leg. The armor looked almost like the kind you'd put on a horse, only it had been fitted for a dog. It was a dark grey color, lighter than his dark brown fur, and it had the same golden brown accents that his fur had along the ends of each plate. Each plate also had a small spike in the center, with the head armor having three going down the top of his head to the tip of his snout, making him look like an evil guard dog from the underworld.

Chew didn't even appear to notice the heavy plating, running and jumping around the shops open floor like he normally did. It didn't take a genius to know that getting tackled by him in that armor could seriously hurt a person. Roman whistled and Glynda nodded.

"Well boy, you look like a killer now," Roman said as he knelt down and scratched under his chin where he was exposed. Chew groaned happily and licked the man's hand.

"He certainly looks even more durable than before," Glynda noted. The armor was sturdy, and lined with chain mail so that Chew could still move and bend and the armor would move with him.

"Yes! Operation doggy armor is a complete success!" Ruby cried. Neo jumped up and hugged her, the two falling to the ground. Seeing the affection, Chew tore his head free from Roman's s ratchets and leapt upon them, drawing groans and yells from the two as he landed.

"Thank the Brothers this guy is a gentle giant. If he were as vicious as he looked he might kill us in our sleep," Roman quipped. Glynda smiled at the statement and couldn't help but agree. If it weren't for the fact that they had been taking care of him since he was a puppy they'd assume he was a trained killer.

"Well I'm glad you like it, and thank you again for your help. It's huntsman like you that keep the villages outside the kingdoms safe," the blacksmith said. They nodded and left, Chew following along obediently.

"Alright kiddos, go rest! We have a lot of ground to cover still," Roman ordered. Ruby grabbed Neo's hand and dragged the mute girl away, excited to show off Chew's new armor design in its entirety.

"We still have no idea what we're doing," Glynda sighed. Roman nodded and the two took their time walking back to the inn.

"Yeah but it's better than sitting around doing nothing. In the event that Ozpin_ did _have a plan, it's worth a shot," he said. She agreed and they continued to talk as they went back to their room. She didn't miss how Roman scowled at the lack of information but chose not to comment. She felt the same about being left in the dark.

There was still a long way to go. The next stop looked to be entering Mistral territory at least.

* * *

Blake was fuming right now. She didn't think a boat ride to Menagerie would take this long. That and being stuck on a ship with Sun and avoiding Ilia was starting to grate on her nerves.

"I spy something black!" Sun said. She growled and rounded on him.

"For the last time can you be quiet and stop playing games! And you already named every black article of clothing on me right now, so what could it possibly be!?" she snapped. He pointed behind her and she gasped.

A giant serpentine like dragon was currently looming over the ship and staring down at them. It made a deep gurgling noise and a little saliva dropped onto her head.

"I was actually gonna say—"

"Yeah I see it now," she sighed. The two armed themselves and leapt off the ship and into the crags in the water.

"Oh hell no!" Ilia shouted as she too leapt off the boat and took out her weapon.

"Yo what's up!" Sun shouted from across the crags, waving her way. She rolled her eyes and whipped the giant Grimm as it sped past her.

Whatever, it was better than sitting around on a boat any longer. Blake was thinking the same thing. As the black haired girl dodged a blast of electricity from the beast she couldn't help but think that Weiss was probably doing better in her mansion than she was doing at sea.

* * *

Weiss was in a predicament right now.

In front of her stood her little brother, whom she hadn't spoken to in a very long time. The two made awkward eye contact and looked around the hallway as they tried to think of something to say to each other.

"Whitley," she began, "have you... met any girls?"

"What?" he asked, genuinely surprised at such a mundane and boring question.

"Oh, my apologies," she amended, "have you... met any boys?"

"I'm not gay sister," he answered, one eyebrow raised, "well, probably not. I don't know, it's been a while since I've interacted with anyone beyond the mansion."

Weiss understood what he meant. They were never allowed to leave the mansion as kids, even more so now due to all the recent White Fang activity. They had been given the finest tutors money could buy and only saw other kids when it was for some event like a corporate dinner or a ball.

Delightful. Truly the most spectacular of childhoods.

"I apologize Whitley. If we're being honest, we don't really know each other," she said blatantly, a look of shock briefly flashing on his face. It was sad but true. All the time their father spent breeding them into the perfect aristocrats made it difficult to find any time to spend together. Weiss would admit that Whitley caught the short end of the stick, as Winter gave her a chance to free herself from their father's grasp, even if it was for only moments at a time.

"You're not wrong sister, but I can't say we'd get along too well," he claimed, eyeing her up and down. She rolled her eyes and cocked her hip to the side, resting her hand on it.

"Try me. At this point, I'll take whoever I can get if it means not having to watch father throw himself into a conniption fit over the embargo," she grunted. She honestly expected him to get defensive, claiming that it was very business savvy of her to say such a thing.

Instead he let out a quiet laugh. He was quick to catch himself and reset his disposition, but she had seen and heard it.

"Ahem," he tried to hide his smile as well, "such a thing is unbecoming of you, sister."

She didn't fail to see his ears turning red as he tried to keep his composure. Deciding that having an actual conversation with her brother was better than... whatever this was about to be, she jumped at the opportunity. Perhaps a little normal conversation would coax him out of his shell.

"Pardon my slip then. It's been awhile since I've last spoken with anyone. The mansion is dreadfully lonely," she stated. Whitley's eyes cast down for a moment.

"Yes... yes it is," he said quietly. She winced slightly. She had to remind herself that what she was trying to do was for the betterment of the family. For herself even. While leaving Whitley alone wasn't what she had intended to do when she left for Beacon, it was what had happened. And when the only company in the manor was the help?

She couldn't imagine how much he'd pent up over the months.

She noticed he had a look on his face that said he was struggling to speak his mind. She moved to apologize but he finally spoke.

"We... heard about the attack on Beacon as soon as the comms went down. Mother locked herself in the garden soon after and father... father brought you back," he explained. She looked away and tried not to apologize. The attack wasn't her fault. She hadn't even been hurt! But she was there, and they didn't know if she was okay. And that thought made her want to say sorry more than anything.

"Well, at least you seem to have handled it with tact," she tried complimenting. His eyes closed and he opened and closed his mouth to respond. After a moment of this he finally looked her in the eyes. She flinched at the look she saw in them.

"Yes well, I wouldn't go that far," he said, gritting his teeth lightly, trying to keep a mostly calm look on his face.

"Whitley I—" she stopped as he held a hand up.

"You need not apologize. Not for worrying me— us! Us..." he told her quietly. Not for worrying him, no, but for leaving him alone with her father and _barely _her mother, yes.

"We can always talk about it? About anything," she tried. He looked surprised for a moment and he sighed.

"That... would be a first," he said. She was starting to realize that they had a long way to go before she could simply talk to him like an old friend.

"Perhaps. But the saying goes better late than never," she advised. They shared a look and he smiled a small smile.

"Yes, I suppose it does," he replied. She smiled back and sighed inwardly. When did she let things get so bad? She wasn't even thinking about how he'd feel! She'd weathered Winter's absence fairly well all things considered. Sure she wasn't the most pleasant of people to talk to for a long time but she warmed up!

Whitley didn't have that chance. After she left there was no way her father was letting him go anywhere. She essentially forced Whitley into being a contingency plan!

She had to work on that too. It'd make going to Mistral hard, but she couldn't just leave him again. She had a job as his family to be there with him. No more Schnee's left alone.

* * *

Blake sighed heavily as she and Sun returned to the boat. Ilia followed shortly after, heaving breaths after the battle they'd just been through.

"Of course... the _first _time I take a boat home... and a goddamn sea dragon attacks the boat!" Ilia shouted. The crew came over and offered them all water and ushered them to sit down. It wasn't every day you watch something that big get beat down by just three people, only to then also watch it explode when the ships cannon finally got a lock on it.

Sailor's life was fun!

"Thanks," Sun said as he took the bottle and downed the whole thing. Ilia took smaller sips, but finished quickly as well. Blake sent a look her way, but was clearly too tired to actually argue right now.

"Well tie me down and fuck me up, you all were really something else out there!" the ship's captain said as she walked over. They tried to waved her off but she was having none of it.

"Oh no, you're not walking away without some form of proper thanks! We pulled a fresh haul today! You three are getting the biggest out of the catch!" she claimed. Ilia and Sun we're about to tell her that it was fine but Blake spoke before they could.

"We accept graciously," she said with a determined look in her eyes. The other two faunus shot her a look of disdain, but she ignored them. She suddenly was willing to fight another sea dragon again if it meant more rewards like that.

"Great! Well you all rest up then, we'll call you lot when we're ready," the captain told as she and the crew dispersed.

"Smooth Blake," Ilia claimed. Blake shushed her and waved her off. Sun laughed and leaned back.

"Holy shit I'm tired. Please tell me Menagerie doesn't have any Grimm problems," he asked. Ilia shook her head.

"No, it's fairly safe. The occasional nevermore here or there but other than that the Grimm seem to steer clear," she told. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes.

The three sat in silence, and before any of them could realize it, they had fallen asleep; lulled by the gently rocking of the ship and their exhaustion from the fight.

* * *

Oscar starred in the mirror. He normally wasn't too concerned about his image, he knew that there was no point in worrying about that sort of thing.

The issue was that a different image was staring back at him.

"_It's rude to state you know," _Ozpin said.

"You're not real," Oscar told himself. Ozpin rolled his eyes. Oscar had to stop himself from reeling since he himself had made no move and yet the image seems to move freely.

"_This is very unbefitting of someone your age," _Ozpin claimed, checking his nails. Oscar had to really ignore the part of his mind that wanted to know why a disembodied voice needed to check his nails.

"What's your name?" he tried.

"_I _was _Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy. Ozpin works fine too," _he said.

"And why are you in my head?" he asked. Ozpin sighed, yet again making Oscar wonder why a disembodied voice had breath.

"_It's not like I wanted to be here you know," _Ozpin huffed, irritated that he'd assumed as much.

Oscar thought about all the times his mom said that spending so much time alone with the animals would make him crazy, but he didn't think that he'd start hearing the voice of some weird old man so early in his life.

"_Well that's just rude. You don't see me calling you weird for thinking about women while I tend to animals," _Ozpin groused. Oscar shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, patting the sides of his face.

"This is so not real," he mumbled.

"_It's real as shit bitch," _Ozpin shot back.

* * *

"Hazel, please tell me you have good news," Salem asked as the massive man bowed before her. His face didn't move, ever the image of stoicism, but he made a low grumble that said he wasn't as lucky as she'd hoped.

"It appears that they are very happy together," Hazel said slowly. He couldn't believe the situation he was in right now.

"No problems? Nothing he wants that I can do better?" she asked. He sighed and shook his head.

"Perceivably, no," he answered. She sighed dramatically and fell sideways into her throne, legs hanging off one side as she held the back of her hand to her face.

"Oh, what did I do to deserve such misfortune?" she asked aloud. Nobody present told her that she had been terrorizing the world for the last millennium or so and that karma would dictate that she hadn't earned such a reward.

"Er, my queen? Perhaps we should focus on the maidens and such?" Watts proposed. The look she shot him nearly made his spirit fly from his body but she relented just as fast.

Good too, if they lost Watts they didn't have anyone who knew how to use the computer. It was trying times in the Grimmlands.

"I suppose you're right. Tyrian, go to Mistral and scour around like you usually do," she said unenthusiastically. Tyrian bowed deeply and came back up raising his hands to the sky.

"Of course my queen! I will do so with fervor!" he claimed as he threw himself out the open window of the throne room.

"Cinder dear, why don't you and Hazel go to Haven and greet these travelers when they arrive. Remember to bring me my tall glass of ginger ale," she purred. They both nearly gagged but agreed and left out the door.

"And Watts," she began, the man standing at attention, "ensure the spring maiden doesn't move. If we want her then we need to make sure she remains where she is."

"Of course your highness," he replied, stepping from the room. Salem sighed once everyone was gone and looked out at the stars in the sky. One flew by and she decided to humor it with a wish.

"When I finally claim my tall, strapping adonis, please let me see the look on Ozma's face when he sees how inferior he is," she wished.

Elsewhere, a farm boy and a thief shivered.

* * *

"So what exactly is our plan here?" Roman asked as they all walked along the dirt road. Currently the motley party was somewhere in the middle of Sanus. They had been on the road for a while now and other than the odd Grimm, nothing was happening.

"How many times are you gonna ask for a plan!? I told you, we're going—" Qrow's outburst was cut off by the crook.

"To Mistral for Ozpin, yeah, we know! That's not a plan though! A plan is something that we can follow! A plan is something that has an end goal! A plan doesn't have us walking through ALL OF SANUS SO THAT WE CAN MAKE A PLAN!" Roman argued. It seemed the months of aimless wandering around the continent had worn down on the man.

"Calm, Roman," Glynda soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder. He sighed and took out a cigar, lighting it and taking a deep drag before letting the smoke fall from his lips lazily.

"He has a point however," she said as she looked to the drunk, "it's a little concerning that we're essentially risking our own lives and the lives of minors for what looks like a wild goose chase."

Qrow grumbled and looked away. This is how it normally went. Roman asked what they were doing, Qrow would give him the same answer, Roman would get a little closer to lighting the forest on fire, and Glynda would be on standby for when he inevitably_ did._

"He's got a point," Mercury shrugged. The other teens looked to him and he continued.

"I know we're practically beating a dead horse by this point but Ozpin is _dead. _There's no way any plans he had are going to hold up now that he can't be there to see them through," he explained. Finally fed up, Qrow lost his temper.

"OZPIN'S NOT DEAD GODDAMNIT!" he yelled, causing a nearby flock of birds to fly away. They all stopped and looked at him, Roman and Glynda especially glaring him down.

"Uh. Whoops?" Qrow laughed nervously. Roman's cigar fell from his mouth and onto the dirt, the ember's at the end burning out immediately.

"Explain. Now." Glynda growled.

Qrow swore and walked into the woods, motioning for them to follow. They all followed until he sat down on a fallen tree. The others all situated themselves around him and gave him their attention. He tried to drink from his flask but it was empty. He groaned and stashed it away again.

"I suppose I should start with a story," he began.

Roman shot a flare into the woods immediately.

Always with the damn fairy tales.

* * *

**And there we are! A shorter chapter compared to the last few but that's because I honestly have a hard time matching the pace of season four.**

**I mean seriously, if they're not walking, they're staying in place. Sometimes on a boat, sometimes in a mansion, sometimes while their alcoholic uncle is dying of poison. It's a little hard to write that in.**

**Which is why I plan on changing that starting next chapter.**

**That's right! Season four is no more in my story! I have new scenes planned and new crimes that need doing!**

**So strap in, strap on, and get ready!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Salem recalls the past**

"If only things worked like they used to," Salem sighed as she stared out the window from the tower. It reminded her of when she was trapped in a tower and all she could do was watch the world go by.

Ironic that she locked herself away in a tower again.

"Oh Ozma, where did we go wrong?" she asked aloud.

Probably the part where she wanted to rule the world, and then when they accidentally killed their kids, and then again on repeat nine. She shivered.

No matter how much she hated him she agreed to never talk about repeat nine.

"Perhaps in another world, we could've been friends," she sighed. She stood and left her throne room. She needed fresh air. As she stepped onto the balcony she sighed.

"Shit I forgot it smells like an oil spill out here," she spat. Worst part about living in the Grimmlands? The fact that everything smelled like the Grimm.

She watched the aunt set in the horizon and saw a flock of nevermore fly off in search of civilians to terrorize.

"If only I could venture out into the world," she mused. She remembered the first time Ozma had taken her from the tower and to the public market.

She'd freaked out at the amount of people and set fire to a yam stand.

Good times. Simpler times.

"God I hate yams," she growled.

Maybe it was time to go to sleep. She turned and left for her bed. She'd think of more schemes in the morning. Perhaps she'd unleash a plague that killed all yams and root like vegetables and starches.

"Yes, that sounds good," she sighed.

Elsewhere, Oscar, for the first time in his life, felt bloodlust for a brief moment.

"Why do I feel like someone just offended my yams?"

_"God almighty you are weird."_


	19. Chapter 19

**Somebody pointed out that the timeskip seemed a little unrealistic what with Sun and Blake being on a boat and Weiss and Whitley not talking until just then (which I agree with, that was simply a matter of setting things up) but the timeskip was also a canon thing. Don't ask me what the writers were thinking with that one. Last time I checked, the skip from volume three to four was about six to eight months. Unless they retconned that.**

**At any rate, please continue to leave reviews! Reviews like that help me know that I should do certain things differently or that something isn't understood!**

* * *

"Qrow."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Are you really trying to tell me that Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, gave you and your apparently psycho sister magical powers that he himself got from these Brothers, who aren't just some nutjob's attempt at religion, but are actually gods of good and evil? And not only that, but there's a crazy Grimm Queen who wants to end all of humanity?" Roman asked, hunched over. Neo was patting his back and Chew sat under him trying to comfort the distraught man.

"Uh, technically Gods of light and dark if what Oz said is true," Qrow replied. Roman raised his cane and shot another round into the forest, only to hear his cane click as he was out of ammo.

"You wasted the last shot about fifteen minutes ago," Glynda told. He groaned and lit a cigar instead. Off to the side, Jaune and Pyrrha had been taking turns putting out the fires he started when he shot his anger off to the side. The scorch marks was large and Jaune showed signs of visible distress. Roman took out a few cartridges and loaded them into his cane.

"The poor squirrels... They never stood a chance..." Jaune whimpered. His partner tried to console him but he was too far gone.

"What the hell was Ozpin thinking roping me into this! This isn't what I signed up for!" Roman complained.

"Hey! Ozpin has the best interests at heart! I've seen what he wants!" Qrow yelled.

"Oh and I'm sure you had a good view from your knees while you're_ sucking his dick!_" the thief shot back.

"You two, enough!" Glynda shouted. She went unheard however.

"You can't be seriously expecting this to all work can you!? Ozpin. Is. DEAD!" Roman screamed, poking a finger into Qrow's chest. Qrow growled and shoved the thief away.

"I already told you he's out there!" Qrow shouted, "And we're_ going _to find him!"

"There's no way in Hell I'm going anywhere with what you just told me!" Roman raged, "I'm not doing anything for a dead man!"

"Maybe you should give it a shot. After all, it'd be the first time you ever did something for someone else!" Qrow snarled.

That seemed to be the breaking point for the thief and, by the sound of it, Qrow's nose when Roman reared back and decked him in the face. Everyone winced at the cracking noise.

"Roman, enough!" Glynda called. But he was lost now, following his punch up with another. Qrow was ready this time though and ducked under it, tackling the crook and sending the two flying deeper into the woods.

"Children, we need to break those two up! Anymore fighting and they'll end up attracting—" Glynda was cut off as a low growl came from the bushes. She turned and shot a blast into the underbrush and several beowolves were sent flying.

"Grimm," she sighed. The students and ex-deputy all launched into combat against the encroaching beasts while the two men brawled in a clearing several meters away.

Roman swung his cane out, catching Qrow in the cheek and sending the drunk sprawling. Qrow jumped from the ground at the thief in a spear tackle and brought the two to the ground as Qrow pinned the thief down.

Qrow grunted as he lay into the thief, bringing his fists down in alternating strikes. He lifted both hands above his head and locked them together, bringing them down towards the thief's face. Roman threw his head to the side, causing the drunk to slam his hands into the rocky ground. He winced and gasped as Roman uppercutted him in the chin, sending him flying off of him and landing on his back.

Qrow wheezed as he was winded by the landing, Roman ran over to him and elbow dropped his stomach, winding him further and causing a little spit to fly from his mouth.

Roman held the man down with his left hand on his chest and struck him in the face with his right. Qrow grabbed his arm on the fourth punch and threw the thief off. As the two got back up, they finally brought out their weapons.

They dashed in and swung, cane and sword slamming together with a heavy metallic crash. Sparks flew as Roman turned his cane down and Qrow's sword skittered off Melodic Cudgel, causing the older reaper to lose his footing. Roman capitalized and swing his cane overhead, cracking the drunk on the top of the head. As Qrow groaned he jumped back, dodging another strike from the thief. His sword folded at the hilt and he took aim.

Roman sidestepped when Qrow shot at him, and danced away when he followed up with a slash. Harbinger sung as it swept past the thief's face. Roman tsked and kicked out, catching the drunk in the stomach and sending him sliding back.

Qrow shot a few more times and two of his shots landed, making Roman wince. Qrow swept his sword to the side and a tree was cut, falling down between the two of them. As Roman backed away from the tree Qrow jumped off of it and slashed down on the crook. Roman grunted as he swung his cane up just enough to keep the blade from touching him.

As the thief was put on the defense, he moved backwards. Roman took a breath and steeled himself as he pointed Melodic Cudgel directly down.

Before Qrow could jump back, the ground beneath them exploded and the two were sent flying apart.

They stood across from each other, panting and dirty from wrestling on the forest floor. An unfortunate Ursa wandered into the clearing and looked between them.

The poor thing didn't even get a chance to move before it was obliterated by the two.

As they lowered their weapons again, they sighed.

"Sorry about that. Seem to have lost my cool there," Roman said as he rolled his shoulder.

"Tell that to my nose," Qrow sniffed, wincing as he tapped the appendage. He stopped and rolled his neck.

Sudden shouting reminded the two that there were Grimm attacking and that it was their fault.

"Shit, Glyn is gonna be _so _mad," the thief groaned. He ducked as a beowolf flew overhead. Qrow swung out and cut the beast in half.

"Damn, I wish you knocked me out now," Qrow sighed, stepping to the side as Roman swung his cane around and swatted a small nevermore out of the air. The small bird had been going for the drunk's eyes.

"ROMAN! QROW! WHEN I FIND YOU I _WILL _KILL YOU BOTH!" Glynda screamed from beyond the trees. The two men looked at each other and shook hands.

They then both ran in opposite directions.

The game of survival had begun.

* * *

Weiss considered herself fortunate in that she was gifted with great self control. Fortunate for that, but not much else at the moment.

"... and it's incredibly important that you sing at the upcoming charity event. Just think of it! 'Student of Beacon; Weiss Schnee, who fought for the kingdom of Vale' assisting in the efforts for the school," Jaques Schnee had a way of making everything into a business venture.

"Father, why not just _donate _from our incredibly large wealth?" she asked. He sent her a scowl.

"Don't be silly, I don't want to spend _my _money. I'm much better for getting other people to spend theirs," he claimed with a wave of his hand. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but he ignored it.

"Now then, you _will _be performing at the event, and that is final," he said as he tented his fingers. She glared at him. Her signature Weiss glare.

"And what happened to my say?" she asked. He sent her the same look. She swore internally as she realized she got it from him. Now she'd have to stop glaring. Her! That was like, her favorite facial expression!

"You're 'say' went out the window with you when you left for Beacon," he said lowly. She held her tongue. She was far too used to Neo and Yang, since she was about to tell him to go fuck himself.

"If you want to earn back some of the privileges that I allowed you, then you will have to earn them," Jaques said as he poured himself a small glass of whiskey. He took a sip and his eyes widened, quickly slamming the cup back down and pinching his lips.

"Father?" she asked tentatively. He held up a hand and coughed for a spell. When he finally got ahold of himself, he adjusted his suit.

"Pardon me, it appears I forgot to put away the pine scented wood cleaner. While I go get assistance from a medical professional, you are not to leave," he said as he stood and stalked out the door, waiting for her to leave his study before he closed and locked it. Weiss stood in silence as he disappeared around the corner.

Why did he swallow if he realized it was wood cleaner?

"Did father just swallow wood cleaner again?" Whitley asked as he stepped towards her. She turned and sent him a look.

"Again?" she asked. He sighed and waved his hand in a circle.

"That's the sixth time this month. He spat it out the first two times and then started keeping it down the next four. I think he might have acquired a taste for it..." he explained, mumbling the last part. Weiss sighed deeply and held a hand to her face.

"What the fuck?" she asked. Whitley laughed.

"Quite," he answered. The two shared a brief laugh before departing towards the library together.

"So what shall we talk about today?" he asked, an excited gleam in his eyes. He'd refute as such if she brought it up but she could tell.

"That's up to you really. What would you like to hear about?" she asked. They had decided to meet for tea in the library to talk more. It seemed Whitley was more starved for attention than she first thought.

"Well I'm no expert in the huntsman field but I know you often work on teams," he began as they seated themselves on two plush armchairs, "so what was your team like?"

She hummed as she tried to think of how to describe her friends. She also took into consideration that she had work alongside teams JNPR and MMMN a lot as well.

"Well, I suppose I can start with my team leader," she stated. He tilted his head and waited.

"Her name is Ruby and she's... an interesting individual," Weiss said. He snorted and she smiled as well.

"Interesting is hardly a description but please, go on," he said. She laughed at his reply and continued. She told him about her skilled yet immature leader, her leaders boisterous and headstrong, yet caring and almost motherly sister, and their mysterious and sarcastic faunus member. She left out that Blake was part of the White Fang once upon a time. That wasn't a can of worms she wanted to open.

She went on to talk about team JNPR as well. Whitley seemed fairly amused when she told him about her first impression on Pyrrha. She weathered it with only a small blush. Finally she got to team MMMN.

"Team MMMN is..." insane? Incredibly corrupt? Morally and philosophically damaged?

"Intense," she said after a while. He raised an eyebrow and she continued, looking around to make sure nobody was listening.

"The most noteworthy thing about their team is that they're all technically registered felon's," she said quietly. He made a face and tilted his head to the side, confusion clear on his face.

"The twins are probably the least criminally active, but the most crass," she started, "Miltia and Melanie. The two of them make up for their overall lower skill with outstanding teamwork."

"Secret twin connection?" he said with a smirk. She smiled back and shrugged.

"With them? Who knows," she answered. She thought about how to describe the next member.

"Mercury is definitely the most... forthright about his criminal history," she stated.

"Proud?" Whitley questioned. She shook her head.

"Aloof more like it," she shot back, "he knows what he did and he's not afraid to talk about it. But he doesn't say it like it's an achievement, more like it's just a fact that he doesn't really mind saying."

Whitley shook his head. His sister seemed to have quite the diverse array of companions.

"And the last member?" he asked. Weiss smiled as she thought of the mute.

"Neo Politan," she stated. He laughed.

"Like the ice cream?" he asked.

"Exactly like the ice cream," she answered. He laughed again.

"Neo is perhaps one of the most baffling people I've ever met," she claimed, "and she's the daughter of Roman Torchwick."

"The spectacle thief from Vale?" he asked, confused about how a criminal's daughter made it into the school.

"Ah, I forgot about that," she coughed, "Roman Torchwick was actually one of our professors during our second semester."

Whitley looked well and truly confused now. Not that she could blame him. While Roman had proven himself to be an ally over time, she and many others had their speculations.

"Yes that normally earns a few looks," she laughed. He shrugged and crossed one leg over the other.

"Well it seems you've got quite the crew of friends now," he observed. She laughed lightly and looked into her cup of tea.

"Yes well, they have their moments," she said. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, both enjoying their tea and the warmth it brought.

"You don't plan on staying," he said suddenly. She looked to him, eyes wide. He was still smiling but his eyes were closed now.

"I..." she didn't want to leave him again but it wasn't like she could just bring her untrained, defenseless brother with her all around the world!

"Please sister, don't stress about it," he stated. She gave him a look and he opened his eyes, smile still present.

"There's clearly something important that needs your attention. After hearing about all your friends, I can't blame you for wanting to get to them again," he continued. Her heart went out to her brother. He'd never really had the chance to make friends, much like her until Beacon.

"But I refuse to leave you alone with father again," she claimed.

"Mother is here too," he returned.

"Hardly," she said with a small growl. He placated her with a raised hand.

"While mother is... occupied," he tried, she groaned at the weak defense, "she still comes around from time to time."

Weiss sighed. She really didn't want to leave Whitley with her father, and she knew that her mother would barely offer the boy the attention he needed. If it weren't for the fact that Winter despised the Schnee mansion (not that she could blame the woman) she would've asked her sister to keep an eye on the boy. She'd have to figure something out soon. She had no idea when her friends would arrive in Mistral and she had to meet them there as soon as possible.

"Sister, relax," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "I've survived this long. I can go a little longer. Besides, you're not leaving forever, are you?"

She shook her head. No. She had too much to fix here. There was no way she was running away from her father forever. Somebody had to clean up his mess.

"No. I'll definitely be back," she stated.

"Then go when you can. Brothers know I'd take the chance if I had it," he mumbled. He stood and stretched, looking down at her in her seat.

"Just as long as you promise to come back," he asked. She stood and took a tentative step forward. When he didn't move away, she stepped forward and embraced the boy. He tensed for a moment, before relaxing and returning the gesture.

"Promise," she said. They broke and laughed. Weiss was thinking about how she'd get out of Atlas. For now though...

She was okay doing this.

* * *

"Ahhh! Land!" Sun sighed as he stepped off the boat. Other faunus stepped past him, a little girl hugging his leg and thanking him for saving the ship once again.

"Welcome to Menagerie," Ilia said as she strode up next to the blonde. They both looked along the shoreline at the bustling crowds of faunus.

"It's just as crowded as I remember," Blake said. Ilia sighed.

"It's actually more crowded now," she said softly. Blake hummed. That made sense. With increase White Fang activity more faunus felt compelled to return home or leave the kingdoms they weren't welcome in.

"It looks like a postcard," the young man observed. While obviously the city wasn't some resort spot, it was a fair observation. People in loose clothing, many in bathing suits, waterside bars and people playing in the ocean. It looked like something out of a commercial.

A guard was walking toward them. He didn't seem to be wearing an actual uniform, more like a regular citizen with a spear and a badge. Blake and Ilia tensed.

"You three," he called, "what business do you have in—"

He stopped and his mouth hung open when he got closer to them.

"M-Ms. Belladonna! Y-you've returned!" he cried, a look of disbelief on his face. She sighed and her ears folded back.

"Uh, hi," she said slowly. He scrambled around for a walkie talkie and yelled something along the lines of 'alert the chief' into it.

"Uh, you wanted here or something?" Sun asked, leaning between Ilia and Blake, a hand on each of their shoulders.

"No. Much worse," she groaned. The guard gave her a thumbs up and a huge smile before running back the way he came.

"Welcome home," Ilia mumbled, walking down the dock and into the town. Sun followed and Blake, not wanting to be left alone, caught up as well.

"So like, what do you do around here?" Sun asked, ducking and weaving through the crowds and allowing a group of playing children to pass by him. He couldn't help but notice the White Fang troops freely wandering around. Made sense since they started here.

"This isn't a vacation Sun, we're here to deal with the remainder of the Fang," Blake whispered to him. Ilia shot her an unamused look that said she'd heard her.

"I'm pretty sure the Fang can handle itself Blake," the chameleon faunus humphed, crossing her arms.

"Last time somebody claimed that we got Adam to lead a faction," Blake said back. Ilia winced and blushed a little, turning and stalking deeper into the crowds.

"Let her go. We have somewhere else to be," Blake said as she grabbed Sun and dragged him away from a fruit stand.

"Hey! I was in the middle of something!" he said. She reached into his pocket and pulled out a small apple. She placed it back on the stand and sent the owner an apologetic look.

"Uh, how'd that get there?" Sun tried. She growled and dragged him off towards the biggest house in Menagerie.

"Uh so where are we going?" he asked. She let go of him as they reached the steps leading up to the building.

"The chieftains house," she said, not looking him in the eyes. He looked up at the building. Menagerie didn't have large houses so this one definitely stood out. Likewise, it looked like the kind of place a chieftain would live.

"So is this chieftain like a tyrant or something?" he asked. She sent him a glare and he put his hands up.

"Easy there, no need to bite my head off," he said. She hissed at him and stomped up the stairs. He followed after and stopped at the large door.

"So do we knock or..." he waved his hands around. She sighed and took a few deep breaths. He noted that she looked like someone who was confronting a deep fear. She finally steeled herself and pressed the doorbell, a loud ring sounding from inside.

"It better not be the girl scouts again! Kali said I was one box of thin mints away from being fat!" a deep voice called from inside, slightly muffled behind the door.

Suddenly an absolutely mammoth of a man hauled the doors open and looked down on them. He had black hair, a full beard and a broader chest than am ursa. He wore a loose dark top with a lot of clavicle exposed and a tuft of chest hair sticking out.

"I told you to leave me alone! We can't be seen here or my wife will—" he froze as his yellow eyes found Blake. Sun tensed as he watched the two state each other down.

It was silent for a long time. Nobody said anything and Sun was starting to worry. He heard another person coming and turned. It was a woman, presumably the aforementioned Kali. She wore an ornate and quite frankly liberal dress. She had two cat ears atop her head and piercings through one of them. Her face showed only a few signs of aging.

"Ghira I swear to God if you're getting another box of thin mints I'll drop kick you into next week! The guards said that we had a very important visitor and we need to be ready to greet—" her eyes landed on Blake alongside the now named Ghira, "... them."

"Um. Hi... mom. Hi dad," Blake finally said, looking away as her ears flattened all the way down.

"Wait what?" Sun asked. He didn't get an answer when the man ran forward and threw his forearm out into the blondes chest, sending him flying into some bushes. He crushed Blake in a hug. Quite literally at that; several things that shouldn't make noises _definitely_ made noises. Cracking noises.

"You're back! My baby is finally back!" Kali shouted, jumping into the embrace and smothering the younger girl into her bosom. Blake yelped as she was rushed between the two adults.

"Where have you been!? Adam went silent once he reached Vale and when we heard about the attack on Beacon we..." Ghira trailed off, and seemed angry at the thought of the fanatic man.

"I was at Beacon when Adam and the rest of the Fang unit there attacked. As a student," she said slowly. The two parents faces went through a variety of emotions before landing on what looked like a combination of sadness and relief.

"When and how did you get into Beacon?" Ghira asked. Kali gave her a look that said if she lied she'd be beaten.

"I'll explain inside. And Sun, stop sleeping in that bush and come introduce yourself!" Blake called towards the side of the stairs where the monkey faunus had been tossed aside.

"Hah?" he mumbled as he wobbled up the steps.

"Blake? Is this your... boyfriend?" Kali asked, eyeing the blonde up and down.

"No. He's a stowaway," she said, not looking at the boy when he made an offended face at her remark.

"Really? We're not even just friends?" he asked. She briefly shot him a sly smile which she hid just as quickly. He rolled his eyes and stood up straight before the two.

"I'm Sun, Sun Wukong! Nice to meet you!" he said as he stuck his hand out. Kali took it and shook it gently, a motherly smile on her face. He noted how soft her hands felt. When she let go he immediately missed that softness as a hand larger than his face gripped his shoulder.

Ghira leaned in as Sun stood frozen with a smile on his face and his hand outstretched. The larger man leaned in close to the blondes ear and growled.

"Have you done it?" he asked quietly. Sun slowly turned his head to meet the man's panther like glare.

"What?" he asked just as quietly.

"_It?" _Ghira ground out. Sun blushed a little and shook his head. Just like that ghira let go of the boy and gave him a pat on the back. It nearly sent the boy sprawling again.

"Then welcome to Menagerie!" he boomed, walking back to stand next to his wife. Sun looked to Blake who was checking her nails. He gestured to his surroundings with his arms and she gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Mm?" she said, going back to her nails. He sighed and his body drooped. Kali clapped her hands together and smile crossed over her face.

"Let's get inside and talk then! I'm sure Blake has a lot to tell us about!" she said. Ghira grunted and turned away, walking back into the large house. Blake pushed Sun forward a little to get him moving before following after. When they were inside, Kali shut the door.

"Now let's start with all the reasons I was right about Taurus being a failure!" Kali said with a smile. Sun noted that the smile was a lot less friendly. Next to him, Blake let out a whine.

That was her mom's 'don't fuck up' smile.

And Blake had definitely fucked up. A few times by this point.

"Reason number one; that awful choice in wardrobe! So much black! You're already gloomy enough sweetie, you need a man with color!" Kali lectured. Blake shrink in on herself and blushed. She really didn't want dating advice from her mom.

Sun laughed. It was kinda funny watching Blake deal with her parents!

"Like Sun here!" she said, waving an arm over him. Behind her, Ghira slid a finger across his neck.

Okay, less fun now.

* * *

"You can't be serious," Oscar said as he lay on a stack of hay bales. He'd arranged them to form a small makeshift bed. Currently he was draped across it, staring up at the ceiling and talking to a voice in his head.

Sounded about as bad as it was.

"_Speak for yourself," _Ozpin mumbled.

"Stop reading my thoughts!" Oscar whined. Ozpin made a huff of indignation.

_"If I could I would. Believe me, after repeat nine I want nothing more than the power to stop others thoughts," _the wizard said. Oscar continued to wonder what the hell 'repeat nine' was and why it had scarred the voice so.

Oscar had been thinking about all the things the voice had been telling him. Could he really leave home just like that? And if he did, was it really a good idea to meet _another _strange person that he'd never heard of? Some guy named Crow?

"_First off, my name is Ozpin. Secondly, listening to me is to both of our benefits," _Ozpin said. Oscar hummed.

"Ehh, I dunno. It seems very... not safe," he tried. Ozpin blew a raspberry at him.

"_Nonsense, I've been doing this for a very long time," _Ozpin assured.

"Okay but I haven't. What if I die?" Oscar asked.

"_Don't worry about that, just listen to what I say and go to Haven Academy," _Ozpin groaned. The repetition was beginning to wear him down.

"But—"

"_Listen, what sounds better; an adventure around the world, stopping crime, seeing new places, and meeting new and unique people? Or dirt?" _Ozpin finally snapped, letting loose his full sarcasm on the boy.

"Hey, it's... more than just dirt," Oscar argued weakly.

"_My apologies. Dirt and manure," _Ozpin said in a way that _sounded _like he was rolling his eyes.

Oscar fidgeted in place for a little. Could he really just abandon his home and parents and fight monsters and criminals all at the behest of a voice in his head?

He had a good thing going on here! He had... the horses. They were nice! And then there were the other farm animals that were also okay. And he had... the market he supposed.

"_Too riveting."_

"Okay I'll pack my bag," Oscar sighed.

Looks like it was time for an adventure.

* * *

"Explain to me again why I shouldn't throw you off the next cliff we find?" Glynda asked the two men. It hadn't been hard to find them after the Grimm had been dispersed. Qrow was trying to hide in another bird's nest, to which the larger momma bird had clawed him out. Roman had just tried running, but quickly found that Glynda had strong legs, like most natural predators, and was suited for chase and subduction.

"You love me?" Roman asked, a wince on his face. She hummed and tilted her head back and forth as though considering it. He let out an affronted scoff and she tsked.

"I suppose that's reason enough to at the very least keep you around," she agreed as he visibly relaxed as she turned her glare onto Qrow, "and you?"

"Uh... you love me too?" he tried. She snarled and he winced. Ouch, way to make a guy feel inadequate.

"At any rate, neither of you are getting out of this without some form of lesson. You're both grown ass men and need to act as such," she said, her disciplinarian nature showing itself. Meanwhile the kids all sat and watched, sitting on a nearby tree that had fallen in the fight. The fight between Roman and Qrow that is, if the clean cut was anything to go by.

"What are you gonna do? Tell us to 'do better in the future'? We already sorted it out... kinda," Qrow grumbled. Glynda raised an eyebrow and hummed.

"No. I will do no such thing," she stated simply. For a moment the two men thought they were off the hook.

A foolish thought, life told them as the woman stepped to the side and allowed Ruby, Yang, and Neo to stand before the two men.

"Oh please, what're they gonna do? Puppy dog eye me to death? I'm already blind from alcohol poisoning! Aha! I've already made the first move in this game of chess!" Qrow slurred. Roman just sighed and waved his hand in a 'get on with it' motion to the girls.

Yang and Ruby grabbed Qrow and dragged him away, already telling him how he shouldn't have instigated the fight and then engage back when the thief made a move.

Neo meanwhile stared at Roman. He rolled his eyes.

"Really Neo?" he asked. She huffed and crossed her arms. Chew looked up at her and sat down, sticking his nose up in the air away from the man. He scoffed.

"Getting it from the dog too huh?" he asked. She turned away a little more and he sighed.

"This doesn't work on me like it used to, you know," he quipped. She still did nothing and a small pout appeared on her face.

"You can give me the silent treatment all you want but I've grown immune to it," he claimed, crossing his own arms and tapping his foot. She remained still and blew a small amount of air out of her nose.

"Noooope! Not working on me!" Roman said loudly, sticking a finger in the air. Chew opened one eye to look at the girl, then closed it again and resumed his part of the silent treatment.

Roman stared at her and she remained where she was. She didn't once move or even acknowledge that he was talking. She'd always done that when he did something she didn't like, but he'd grown to endure!

He was stronger! He was more patient! And he wasn't falling for it like he always did!

"..."

"Okay, you listen here you little rugrat!" Roman began. As he went off into a rant, the others all watched in complete confusion.

"Are we serious right now?" Mercury asked, rubbing his eyes, then rubbing them again as he watched the thief go on.

"He can't... he can't really think this silence is any different from her normal silence, right?" Pyrrha asked. They continued to watch the thief as he started pacing and waving his arms around. He was practically talking to himself!

"Fascinating," Glynda mumbled, watching in awe, "to disarm him so easily with nothing but silence. Truly I need to try this."

"Okay okay I get it!" Qrow groaned as Ruby jumped on his back and repeatedly told him to grow up. He tossed her off and smacked Yang's hand away as she tried to tug on his ear again.

"I'm old! Jump on my back like that anymore and I might cave like drywall," he stated. The sisters high fived and they all turned to see Roman still yelling at a pouting Neo.

"... and another thing!" Roman shouted, pulling out a cigar and lighting it. Before he could continue, Neo finally looked his way and raised an eyebrow.

"Ugh," he groaned and hunched over. She blinked once. Then again.

"Fine! I'll be better in the future! Happy?" he whined. She immediately smiled and skipped over to him, giving him a tiny peck on the shoulder, about the only place she could reach without jumping.

"Ugh, love you too kiddo," he grumbled. As they wrapped up, the group began finally moving again.

"Um, what's the next stop?" Jaune asked. Ren took out a map and Nora tore it from his hands and scanned it.

"It says we're heading towards Oniyuri!" Nora said. Ren hummed.

"You know the place?" Miltia asked. Ren hummed again.

"Somewhat. My... parents talked about it once upon a time. From what they said it seems like this was Mistral's version of Mountain Glenn, or at least like my..." he trailed off. Nora swiped her hand past her neck in a 'don't say anything' motion. They nodded and dropped the subject.

As they came about the old gates Roman looked around and sniffed the air.

"Hm, place is a wreck like you said," he stated. Ren nodded and they all looked around the ruined village. They split up to see if there was anywhere they could stay.

"Okay kiddos! Don't get any splinters ya hear?" he told. They all gave him various forms of 'yeah whatever old man' and broke up. He and Glynda separated from Qrow and looked towards the other side of the village.

"It's quite a bleak reminded what world we live in," Glynda said quietly as she lifted an old wagon and moved it away from the door of what looked like somebody's home.

"And apparently there's even worse out there," Roman said in annoyance. She lay a hand on his arm.

"We'll find a way to stop whatever this Salem is planning. She is just another thing to add to the list," the blonde said. He chuckled and kissed her quickly.

"Way to make the supposed 'Queen of Grimm' sound like a chore," he chuckled. She laughed with him and they both forgot about the sad environment around them.

"NEO!" Ruby screamed from across the long main street. They both wasted no time dashing to the source and readying their weapons.

"I'm looking for a particular person! My queen demands his presence!" a voice sang, sounding twisted in nature.

"Get off of her!" Ruby snarled. It was strange hearing such vitriol from the normally sweet girl.

The two adults rounded the corner onto the main street and saw a lanky man in a long dark coat pinning Neo to the ground and looking Ruby right in the eyes. The position looked painful but he hardly looked like he cared.

Roman wasted no time in firing a flare into the man's side. As he flew off, Ruby dashed in and swept Neo away. When the were standing Neo brushed herself off and gave the three a thumbs up.

"Is everything okay over here!?" Jaune asked as he and the others all finally showed up. The strange man now stood in the center of all of them. Then he began to chuckle.

"You," he breathed, pointing a hand at Roman. The blades attached to his arms didn't go unnoticed by any of them.

They all dropped into a ready stance but the man seemed unconcerned. He took slow steps towards the thief and spread his arms out wide as he stalked his way.

"My queen has requested your presence! Please join me, and we will meet her in her castle!" he announced, waving his body and arms around theatrically.

"And just who is this 'queen' exactly?" Glynda asked. As the man's eyes landed on her his twisted smile disappeared and a snarl took its place.

"You! The Grand Defiler! You who stands in my queen's path towards true happiness!" he proclaimed, pointing at her and stabbing his finger her way with every syllable.

"The grand what?" she asked. Before she could move, the man pounced into action, tackling the blonde woman into an old storefront and collapsing the building.

"Oh goddamnit!" Roman said as he and the others ran towards the store. The pile of rubble suddenly burst as Glynda floated backwards, a line of debris following her. The man leapt from the pile and jumped along the floating pieces of building.

Seeing what he was going for, Glynda encased all the debris together and trapped the man in a dense but small sphere of the old collapsed shop.

It was in vain however as the sphere exploded and the figure of the man flew skywards, his coat flying off of him, before landing perfectly on the ground.

He dashed forward again and met opposition. Jaune and Pyrrha had run ahead, shields out and weapons poised to strike. But the man jumped and landed with a foot on each of their shields. He jumped again and landed behind them.

"What—" Jaune was cut off, as was Pyrrha when a tail lashed out from behind the man and slashed across both of their heels. They both screamed out at the unexpected strike and toppled.

"That's two," the man smiled a toothy smile. He dashed again and entered a dance of blades with the twins and Ren. He slashed to and fro, parrying strikes from the three of them and stabbing out with his tail. They deflected the extra limb each time but the man was unpredictable and would follow each block with a heavy strike. Ren crossed his guns together as the man lashed out and slammed his hands into the boys defense. He slid back and the twins jumped away.

The man cackled but was quickly shut up as Nora slammed down and a cloud of dirt and dust was kicked up.

Not a moment later, the girl was thrown from the cloud of dust, weapon still luckily in hand, but crashed into Ren and through the wall of a house. The two groaned and tried to get up, but the wall collapsed, trapping them inside.

"That's two more!" the man laughed, his long tight braid flailing about as his head shook.

"Who the hell are you!?" Mercury asked as he, the twins, and Yang all prepared to close in on the man. Glynda had lifted Jaune and Pyrrha and carried them away, not wanting them to get hurt any further.

"Ah! How rude! How shameful! How absolutely careless of me!" he said, aghast at the boys question.

"I am Tyrian Callows! And I am here to claim that man for my queen!" he shouted, his tail pointing towards Roman. He readied himself in case, watching the scorpion tail wave and prime itself, as though ready to stab.

"He's with Salem!" Qrow called out. They all tensed as they realized just what kind of power they were dealing with.

Neo and Ruby stood with Chew, who was growling and baring his teeth. This was the most aggressive he's ever looked, so they knew this guy was _real _bad news. Especially if he'd dispatched team JNPR so easily.

"Well we're not really in the mood to give him up!" Yang said as she finally dashed in, launching herself forward with a blast from her gauntlets. His knees bent, his body going horizontal in an I start as the blonde soared over him. He fell back and propped himself up on his tail as the other three close combatants descended on him. Standing on his tail, he spun around, blocking all of their attacks and jumping every now and then when they would strike low. Finally he flipped and landed on Mercury's shoulders. Startled by the sudden weight, the boy stumbled backwards.

As he fell, the man jumped up. When Mercury landed on his back, the man came back down and slammed his boots into the boys stomach. Mercury heaved as the ground below him cracked and caved a little. The man leapt off of him and wrapped his tail around Melanie's neck. Miltia stopped her advance as he held her sister in front of her. As Melanie's face began to turn blue and she grabbed the tail, the man spun twice and launched the girl into her sister, sending the two flying back and landing on Mercury.

"Ahahahahaha! I thought that your merry crew would be stronger than this!" he said. He pouted and Drew small circles in the dirt with his tail.

"I was really looking forward to a good fight..." he mumbled. He turned around and came face to face with a startling realization.

He'd forgotten about the blonde girl.

She'd reminded him of her presence when she uppercutted him square in the jaw, slamming his teeth together as her eyes glowed red. He flew up and grabbed the side of an old water tower, hauling himself on top of it.

"An amazing display!" he said as he clapped wildly. The red in Yang's eyes slowly faded and she looked very confused. In an instant the man threw his arms down and the bracers that held his blades shot a blast each, striking the bottom of the water tower. The structure fell quickly and Yang was about to run when she remembered the other three that were behind her.

Running their way, she hauled them all over her shoulder and threw them out of the way. Shortly after, the top of the water tower slammed into her and everything went black.

"Yang!" Ruby cried. She and Neo prepared to fight but Roman put his as up and stopped them both.

"We are not fighting this guy here," he said. After the day they had, him and Qrow already slightly drained from fighting each other and the rest of them tired from the horde of Grimm that attacked as a result, there was no way they could win. Especially after he'd taken care of so many of them already.

"He's right children," Glynda said as she finally returned, "we have wounded and we must not waste time fighting a losing fight."

"Are you gifting yourself to me then!? A smart choice!" Tyrian said as he bowed deeply. Before Roman could say otherwise, the faunus put his fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp and loud whistle causing the remaining conscious fighters to cover their ears.. As the thief shook his head to rid the noise, a loud screech was heard.

"Oh shit," Roman sighed as he looked up. He and the other three plus one dog tried to dodge out of the way, but they were too late. The absolutely giant nevermore swept down and grabbed at the thief's general area. Unfortunately for the women and dog near him, they too were grabbed.

"RUBY!" Qrow shouted as the bird took off. Tyrian cackled as he watched the bird soar away. Qrow snarled and dashed towards him.

"BRING HIM TO OUR QUEEN MY AVIAN FRIEND!" he called. Too focused on the quickly departing bird was he to realize the mistake. It was one that would cost him.

"ARGH!" the scream tore from his throat as he fell forward. He scrambled up and saw Qrow, scythe out and stuck in the ground where he once stood. Beneath his blade lay the severed half of his tail.

"YOU CUNT!" he cried. His tail had been cut by almost half its length, more of it attached to him still, but not nearly the amount he wanted on him.

"Where are they being taken!?" Qrow shouted. Tyrian snarled at him and leapt away, over the wall of the village and into the trees. Qrow made to follow but a tug at his pant leg stopped him.

"Don't... chase him..." Jaune mumbled. He looked pale and Qrow swore as he saw that his girlfriend was pale too.

"Get the rest... and get moving!" he gasped out before finally succumbing to unconsciousness. Qrow swore and spat as he lifted the two and propped them up against a wall. He ran over to the collapsed building and found the other couple. They had luckily been awake, only stuck.

"You're teammates need help, fast! Get the others up and let's get moving!" Qrow said urgently. The two wasted no time in moving and getting the twins and the bruisers awake. Yang was still down for the count, but Mercury opted to carry her until she woke. They all scavenged around the village quickly, looking for and medicine they could use. When they found none, they made makeshift stretchers and hoisted the two onto them. The twins had Pyrrha, and Ren and Qrow had Jaune. Nora would be the only thing defending them if they got ambushed, so they had to hope Yang would wake up soon.

"Where'd the others go!?" Mercury asked. Qrow winced and gestured for them to start moving. As they hustled out of the town, he answered.

"Some giant nevermore came and snatched them up like bugs," he stated. Mercury swore and adjusted Yang on his back. He had the girl piggyback style and was keeping pace with them.

"We have to believe in them. If it's those four, they can escape. Trust them," Ren claimed. Qrow sighed deeply but nodded. He had to think positive right now. Roman was crafty, he'd get them all out of there.

Now to just figure out what Salem wanted with Roman...

* * *

"Oh Watts! Is there any word from Tyrian yet?" Salem cried out to the man. Watts coughed into his fist and shook his head as he bowed a little.

"Er, not yet my liege. I apologize," he said. She sighed and pulled out a framed photo of the man she'd been obsessing over. It was a photo that was clearly taken without the man's knowledge, as he was just getting out of the shower and it was obviously taken from outside his window if the reflection in the frame was to go by. What a brave little rabbit faunus that girl was to take such a picture.

"My queen? Perhaps you should forget about this man and focus on our original plans?" he tried. A spike pierced the wall next to his head.

"I'm immortal Watts! I can enact my plan whenever I want! But this? This is a once in his lifetime opportunity!" she claimed. He sighed and nodded, excusing himself from her throne room.

He was set to leave for Mistral soon to meet with Lionheart, but Salem had been rather... antsy as of late. As he closed the door to the throne room, he turned and saw Cinder, Emerald, and Hazel all looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" Cinder asked. He raised an eyebrow and she sighed.

"Is she still..." the scarred woman waved a sleeved arm in a circle next to her temple. He scoffed and nodded.

"That is... unfortunate," Hazel said. The scientist agreed. With Salem so focused on this, all of their collective reasons for joining her in the first place were at risk! If Salem just decided to wait until after this Roman fellow died, after a long life with her, that was, then there was no reason to have joined Salem's faction in the first place! Years of work we're slowly melting in front of all of them!

"Can't we just..." Emerald made a buzzing noise with her lips as she pantomimed rubbing something on her crotch. Watts choked.

"Are you suggesting we get her grace a vibrator!?" he spat. Emerald shrugged. Much to his dismay, Cinder had a hand on her chin and was nodding.

"No, no, she's right," she ignored how emeralds face lit up in joy, "maybe she just needs an outlet."

"It can't hurt to try," Hazel said. Watts wanted to argue, but the scientist in him silenced him.

Any experiment was worth a shot, right?

"Not it," he said as he placed a finger on the side of his nose. Hazel followed shortly after, and Cinder after him. Emerald caught on too slowly and by the time she'd realized it was too late.

"Son of a bitch," she grumbled. Watts walked in front of her and placed a card in her hands.

"Use that as freely as you'd like. Assets are of no concern to us," he said. She nodded and opened her scroll.

"And what am I looking for exactly?" she asked. They all shrugged.

"Anything," they said. She shrugged as well and simply typed 'adult toys' into the search bar.

Time to go shopping.

* * *

"Urgh, is everyone okay?" Roman asked as he hauled himself up. Behind him, the dissolving body of the large nevermore faded away. He helped Glynda up and looked around.

"Up here!" Ruby called from above. They looked up to see that the girls and Chew had landed on top of a small outcrop. Unfortunately, their landing had not been as smooth as he had hoped. Not exactly his fault.

Upon being swept away, Roman had taken initiative. It was better than being bird food, or being taken wherever that madman had wanted them to go. The crash was fresh in his mind. After all, it only happened about ten minutes ago.

/\\-/\\-/\

_"Roman do not shoot or we will die!"_

_"It's the only way Glyn! When I see the mountain, I'm shooting!"_

_"AHHH! AT LEAST I WON'T DIE A VIRGIN!"_

_"WHAT!? NEO! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T TAP IT YET!"_

"Goddamnit Ruby!"

_"Oh. Uh, eheh. Sorry Neo."_

_"Arf arf!"_

_"Brace for impact!"_

_BOOM!_

_"__**SCREEEEEEEE!**__"_

_"AHHHHHHHHH!"_

\/-\/-\/

And thus, they ended up in this predicament, who knew how many miles away from the others.

Roman and Glynda decided that meeting the girls on higher ground would be more beneficial, and so they both made their way up the small cliff. As they pulled themselves over the ledge, they made sure Ruby, Neo, and Chew we're okay too.

"Nothing broken girls?" he asked. They shook their heads and Chew even barked happily. Figures he'd be having a good time.

"How are we gonna get back to the others?" Ruby asked. Roman looked out over the treeline. He couldn't even see the village they'd been in, let alone any other village around.

"What a stellar question Red," Roman answered. Glynda sighed and looked as well. Just in case, she checked her scroll. She swore quietly.

"Still no signal. Which means we're still nowhere near Mistral, and we can't get a read on where we are," the woman said. They all groaned and searched the area.

"There's a cave over here," Ruby said, pointing to a shallow cave against the mountain face. They all peered inside to make sure it was clear, before entering. The cave only went back about fifteen feet or so, about the size of a bedroom.

"This will do for now. We shouldn't travel as we are right now. We'll need to set out tomorrow," Glynda said.

"It's like camping!" Ruby said. Neo giggled and Roman rolled his eyes. Glynda coughed to get their attention.

"We'll need some materials to set up a cp then," she advised.

Neo and Ruby took Chew and went to find wood for a fire of some kind. Glynda stayed in the cave so that she could lift what was found up the cliffside. Roman went to find food.

Out of all of them, Roman had the hardest job. Finding food? Not the hard part.

"We are not eating this," Glynda said. In front of them was an adorable baby deer that Roman had stolen from its mother. It was still alive and was shaking as it backed away into the back of the cave.

"It's us or it, Glyn," he claimed. Neo covered her eyes and Ruby actually cried a little. Roman slowly approached the small animal.

"Okay, here... here we go," he gulped. He slowly raised his cane and pointed it at the fawn. Glynda turned away and Chew watched just as happily as ever.

"Aaaaaaaand, nope. Can't do it," he sighed. As he stepped aside the little thing dashed out the cave and down the side of the cliff.

"Well, I did see some colorful bushes below us. I think they may have been berries," she stated. He threw his hands in the air.

"Why didn't you say that _before _I kidnapped the deer!?" he asked. She shrugged and he slumped over, walking to the edge of the cliff and scaling back down to retrieve the berries.

He came back up using his coat as a makeshift basket to carry all the small fruits.

"How do we know if they're edible or not?" Ruby asked. Roman hummed before licking one up and tossing it just outside the cave. Shortly after, a small bird came and ate it. It looked for more but Chew ran forward and scared it away.

"It's safe. Bird wasn't afraid to eat it," he said. Neo sighed. That wasn't the concrete logic they were looking for but it would have to do for now.

"Anybody here have an extra map?" Roman asked. As Ruby and Neo started to panic when they realized they had no such thing, Glynda unfolded one from her breasts.

"It pays to keep things in your bra," she said with a small blush. Roman gave her a thumbs up and Neo and Ruby were in awe. They didn't expect the proper Glynda Goodwitch to keep things in her boobs!

"I'm sure you girls do the same," she claimed. They both blushed a little. Ruby pulled out a small charm that looked very similar to Zwei, Neo pulled out a small knife. They all looked at the girl and she put her hands up in a 'what?' motion.

"Didn't I tell you not to keep knives in your tits?" Roman asked. She blushed and slowly slid it back between her cleavage. They all laughed at that and Roman started the fire.

"That was quite fast," Glynda pointed out. Indeed, Roman had started the fire quickly, using just his lighter and some dry leaves.

"Oh yeah, I've been charged with tons of arson—" he stopped as she glared at him and he laughed nervously and coughed.

"I mean, I was in the boy scouts or something," he said. She sighed. This was the man she had feelings for.

"So we just follow the map? To where though?" Ruby asked. Roman hummed and looked over the landmarks.

"Well if this is the mountain nearest to that last village, then it looks like the closest village is... Kuroyuri," he stated. They all observed where it was. Closest was... a generous statement.

"Yes I suppose that is technically the closest village," Glynda sighed. The village of Kuroyuri was actually quite far away from them. In terms of proximity, though, none of the other villages were as near as that one.

"Okay then," Roman sighed as leaned back against the cave wall and tried to get comfortable, "next stop; Kuroyuri."

* * *

**Well that settles that! Yes I took off more of Tyrian's tail, but in return, he took out Jaune and Pyrrha! Now they are the ones who are poisoned and Qrow is the one who is fine!**

**And also I separated the big group because let's be honest, what would threaten them if they were all together the whole time?**

**I actually had a pretty fun time with this chapter, and I would really appreciate your reviews on it! Favorites and follows also appreciated but hardly necessary.**

**Oh and my birthday is in a week, so happy early birthday to me! Nineteen and living the dream!**

**At any rate, please have a wonderful time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Roman gives Ruby a stern talking to**

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Um, Roman?" Ruby asked.

Roman held a hand up and the girl went silent again.

"..."

"..."

"For the love of God Roman, you can't just—" Roman turned to Glynda and gave her a look. Never had she seen the seriousness that he was displaying right now. For the first time, he startled her into silence. She continued observing.

"So what was that you said back on the nevermore?" Roman finally asked after five minutes of peering into Ruby's soul. The girl stammered at his question.

"Um, I don't, uh—"

"Because it sounded like," he continued without letting her defend herself, "you said you had sex with my daughter."

"Um, I—" Ruby was blushing harder than she ever had before. Talking about how you and your girlfriend had hot lesbian sex with your girlfriend's dad was not something that Ruby ever saw herself doing.

"Who was on top Ruby." he stated. There was no question there, it was a demand for information. Alongside that, he'd never said her actual name before and she was pretty sure she went herself a little at the sheet intensity in his eyes.

_Don't I get a say here? _Neo's scroll asked. Roman shushed her and returned to the reaper.

"Answer me," he said.

"I-i-i-i-i—" Ruby stuttered hard and Neo felt genuinely bad for her girlfriend.

"You?" Roman drawled, same intense, serious look on his face.

"I-I w-was on b-bottom," she stammered, red and trying not to cry. Roman hummed and made a face, clearly trying to expell the image of his daughter having sex out of his mind.

"I see," he said as he closed his eyes. Ruby was ramrod straight, every muscle was tensed, and she was sure that if she made it out of this alive, she'd put a padlock on all of her underwear until Roman died and she was safe.

Unless he haunted her. Then she was screwed.

"You have five minutes," he said, turning and facing the wall of the cave. They all looked at one another, confused.

"F-five minutes for what?" she asked. He was still looking at the wall as he pulled out a cigar and started smoking it.

"Five minutes until I'm done smoking this and I come and beat your ass more red than that cape," he said calmly. That calmness was more terrifying than any rage she'd seen the man display.

"Wh-what!?" she asked. He hummed.

"If you were on top, it'd be thirty seconds, but I'm being generous since you weren't," he said, "also, you're closer to four minutes now."

"B-but that was only the first time—" Ruby quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Only... the first time," he said quietly.

_Babe, please run, _Neo's scroll toned.

From a distance, Mercury squinted at a faraway mountain.

"Huh, must be a forest fire or something," he commented as they all kept moving. From where he was, it looked like some cave was exploding fireworks or something.

But that'd be ridiculous.


	20. Chapter 20

**Wow we've reached twenty chapters! I didn't even think people would like this story enough for me to pass five!**

**In honor of the occasion I've updated the cover art! Thank you again to my lovely partner, you guys can find her on Instagram (at b0iled_3gg)! I hope you guys like it as much as I do!**

**Thank you all for your support of this story! You're reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**In this chapter I try my hand at making a new Grimm. Hopefully it's not stupid.**

**Enough of my talk, I'll see y'all at the bottom!**

* * *

"Gurgh... wh-wha—?" Yang slowly stirred and groaned. She couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but what she did know was that she was in a very uncomfortable position.

"Guys! She's waking up!" she heard Mercury call. She opened her eyes and realized where she was.

"Why am I on your back?" she asked, groggy and feeling a full headache.

"You passed out and we had to move it. Nora's been keeping us safe," he said. She nodded and squeezed his shoulders. Getting the message, he set her down. She stretched and twisted, pops and cracks coming from her body as she did.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Sunshine," Qrow said. He looked exhausted but happy to see her up and about.

"Good to be back," she returned. She looked past him and gasped.

"Are they—"

"Fine. Well, not dead. They're... not doing great," Qrow cut her off, placing a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and looked back behind her uncle.

Jaune and Pyrrha lay still and pale, barely making a noise but for soft breathing and the occasional moan of pain. She looked around and noticed that they were in a small clearing in the woods, Nora sat with the twins on a log. Mercury took a seat beside them.

"We just stopped, in case you're wondering," Ren said from behind her. She turned and saw the boy cleaning his guns.

"Yeah, once you started waking up we all set up for the night," Mercury added. She nodded and looked around once more, a sudden panic striking.

"Where's Ruby!?" she yelled suddenly. Qrow shushed her and eased her onto a log. She tried to stand but winced as she felt her head throb again.

"Easy kiddo, easy," he soothed. She groaned and took a deep breath. Ren hummed.

"You're most likely concussed," he pointed out, "you should rest and try not to stress your body for a few days."

"But where's my sister?" she asked, steel in her voice.

"She... got taken," Qrow answered slowly. Yang's attention snapped to him and held his hands up.

"Before you go all crazy, we don't know what happened. A giant nevermore came and snatched her and the others and flew off West. Knowing Roman, they're already on the ground again," Qrow continued. She growled and took a few more deep breaths.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"Only two days. We've been on the road the whole time," Melanie answered. The blonde sighed and rolled her shoulder, working a kink out.

"We have to find a way to get these two some help," Qrow said, tossing his head back at the two downed fighters.

"What's going on with them?" Yang asked. Qrow sighed and shrugged.

"From what I can tell, that lunatic poisoned them when he got that hit in. Whatever it's comprised of, it's doing a number on them," the man said. She sighed and hoped desperately that the two would be okay along with Ruby.

Yang winced again as she held her head. Mercury chuckled.

"There's no way you'll be in fighting shape when we start moving tomorrow. You're better off switching with Qrow and carrying Jaune," the assassin claimed. She huffed and crossed her arms but didn't deny him. She could tell she wouldn't be much help for a little bit.

As they all prepared to rest for the night, Yang looked up at the moon. She closed her eyes and hoped that Ruby would find her way back with the others.

* * *

Ruby awoke to the sound of growling. She leaned forward and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dark. She saw Chew standing at the mouth of the cave, growling out at the forest.

"What's wrong boy?" she asked. The sun was just rising, the sky was slightly cloudy. It looked like there was a storm on the horizon. She couldn't see anything so she looked down to the dog.

Chew was poised to pounce, tail still and teeth barred. He was growling lowly and his legs were tensed. Ruby noted that he was sniffing every now and then.

"Ugh, what's going on?" Roman groaned, stirring from his sleep and looking over. He saw Ruby standing next to Chew.

"I don't know. I think Chew feels something down in the woods," the young girl said back to him. He sighed and stood. Shortly after he walked over and stood on the other side of Chew.

He peered out into the woods and searched the shadows. He squinted and looked around, not seeing anything.

"What's going on boy? What's down there?" he asked. Chew looked up at him and growled again, pointing his face back outside the cave. He couldn't see anything in the woods and didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Roman sighed and went back in to wake up Glynda and Neo. He winced internally as he realized the wrath that this course of action would bring about.

They'd decided to stay in the cave another day, knowing that they'd need to be sure that they were in good enough shape to start moving again. It seemed like they were ready now and he saw no reason not to get an early start.

"Glyn? Neo? It's time to start moving," he said softly. Glynda's eyes opened immediately and she stood as though she'd never been asleep in the first place. It was almost robotic how efficient she was. Neo took her time, crawling up and posting at him. He crossed his arms in front of him and pointed to Ruby. She rolled her eyes and straightened out her hair as best she could.

Ruby meanwhile continued to try and find what was driving Chew so crazy. He was generally a very calm and level headed, if not excitable, dog. So what could have possibly been—

"Oh fuck!" Ruby screamed, Roman turned to chastise her for the language but he didn't get the chance, "get down!"

The four of them hit the deck and Ruby pulled Chew down with her, holding him close. Not a minute later a large black shadow shot past the cave entrance, before soaring away from them over the trees.

"You can't be serious," Roman whispered. Glynda had a hand on The Disciplinarian just in case the beast made another run by them. When she saw what it was, she nearly dropped the wand.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, still quiet as the beast circled over the treetops.

"That," he started, watching nervously, "is a Dawnbane," Roman answered, the four of them coming to the entrance of the cave to watch it fly.

The beast was massive, easily larger than a goliath, and definitely wider. It was bat-like in form, and had white, spiny plating over its head, back, and the non-membrane parts of its wings. On the side of its head were two giant, twisted horns that curved back in a spiral before jutting out forward. It had a whip like tail that was barbed on the very end, and most notably, it had four eyes and a _very _nasty looking set of fangs.

_Why do they call it a Dawnbane? _Neo's scroll asked out. Roman watched as the beast flew up and above the clouds.

"Wherever those things go, clouds follow. They hide in the clouds and fly out to ambush people," he answered, "people call 'em that because the clouds they hide in block out the sun."

"How do they control the clouds though?" Ruby asked. Roman looked to Glynda. She shrugged and he sighed.

"Nobody has ever really lived to say," he said back. Ruby winced and Neo frowned. Glynda clapped her hands.

"We will be safer in the trees than in this cave. If the beast corners us here, it's very unlikely we'll be able to escape this hovel," she stated. They all nodded and jumped down the cliff face and into the forest. The screeching of the Dawnbane echoed overhead.

They moved swiftly through the trees, making sure to stay hidden under the leaves and branches. Everytime the beast would soar overhead, they'd stop for a few minutes before moving again.

"We're lucky that unlike actual bats, these things don't have phenomenal hearing," Roman said as they continued to trek through the woods, "not to say their hearing is bad, just that it isn't any better than a beowolf or an ursa."

_And why did we never learn about these things? _Neo signed to him. Ruby took a moment before nodding and agreeing. He smirked. Neo had been teaching the girl to sign. She was a little slow to recognize things but she was a fast learner, that was for sure.

"Well, they're pretty rare. We don't quite know why, seeing as how deadly they are. It's probably their size, though I doubt they're born that big," Glynda answered when he tossed the request her way. She adjusted her glasses.

"It's likely that the newer Dawnbanes don't start flying in the clouds until they're at least as large as an ursa major," she continued her shirt lecture. Ruby and Neo nodded along.

"Anything to watch out for in particular?" Ruby asked as they all stopped and clung to a tree while the beast passed above them. After a moment, they started moving again, toward Kuroyuri.

"Their tails are barbed and they can send the spikes out like darts. The horns are also pretty effective for charging on land and in the air," Roman said. Ruby made a face at that.

"They fight on land too?" she asked, perplexed by this new Grimms nature.

"Yep. Not only that, but they fight _well_ on ground too. It has claws on the midpoint of its wings. Uses its wings as front legs when it lands," he replied.

Ruby groaned and Neo bent back and let her mouth open in what would be a groan if she made noise.

"Worry not you two. As long as we're smart going forward we'll be okay," Glynda assured. The two nodded and they all continued on. As they did, it sounded like rain may have been coming.

"Oh great. It's bringing more clouds in," Roman grumbled.

"It can just do that? Bring on rain?" Ruby asked. Glynda sighed.

"As said before, all we know about Dawnbanes is what we can see from a distance. Due to its nature of hiding in the clouds it's hard enough to do even that much," the woman claimed. The beast stopped above them and sniffed the air.

They all hid under the nearest trees and Ruby and Neo held Chew back as he growled up at the monstrosity hovering above. It stayed there for a few minutes, turning quickly in every direction as it searched for a target. It screeched up at the clouds again before ascending back into them.

"Okay, it's time to move a little faster now. I'm pretty sure our friend has caught on to our trail now and is looking for us," Roman said as they all started moving quickly through the underbrush.

If they'd taken the time to listen more, they'd hear the sound of rain getting closer and closer.

* * *

"Blake, what the actual hell?" Ghira asked. Blake had been back in Kuo Kuana for two days now and had finally gotten through telling her parents about everything that had happened, taking care to leave out the parts about maidens.

"What? It's not my fault!" she defended.

"The part where Adam attacked Beacon isn't, no. The part where you were at Beacon in the first place is without a doubt your fault," he said, rubbing a hand down his face.

"Your father is right. As happy as I am that you're okay, why didn't you just come home?" Kali asked, a slightly hurt look on her face. Blake winced. Nothing was more soul crushing than the sadness of a parent. Especially one as caring as her own.

"I didn't want to chance Adam coming back for me. He'd know where I'd be if I came back to Menagerie," she said. Sun sat to her side, awkwardly trying not to get too involved in her family life.

"But you would've been safer here than at Beacon!" her mother said.

"But you wouldn't," Blake shot back. Ghira sighed and held a hand up to quiet the two of them.

"Look. We can discuss all the reasons Blake should've come back home some other time," he said, Blake blushing a little, "but right now? She's home. Better late than never."

Kali sighed but nodded. Blake sighed as well, more in relief that the subject was being dropped.

"Cool! Family reunification complete!" Sun said. Ghira glared at him and Kali smiled at his enthusiasm. Blake nudged him and he coughed into his hand.

"I mean... congratulations on your reunion," he said. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her parents.

"As much as I'd love to catch up, and really I would," she added at her dad's raised eyebrow, "but we have to deal with something else first."

"I assume, based on your, quite frankly obsessive, inability to keep yourself out of their affairs, you mean the White Fang," Kali said. Sun laughed when Blake went red.

"Yes. I mean the Fang," she said. Ghira sighed.

"Unfortunately, Sienna hasn't been too forthcoming with information lately. We barely know anything about any of their recent actions," he grumbled. Blake and Sun looked at each other before looking back to her father.

"What about all the White Fang in town?" Sun asked. Ghira hummed.

"Well we can't exactly deny them from the city. Menagerie is known for accepting everyone from around the world. If we start telling the Fang to leave then we essentially asked for them to start targeting us too," he explained, a frown on his face.

"Likewise ever since Sienna took over for Ghira she's been sure to keep us especially out of the loop. That includes out guards as well," Kali added after her husband. Sun looked put off by the news and Blake scoffed.

Sienna Khan had been the one to start ordering raids and attacks on shipments. While she'd never been anywhere near as bloodthirsty as Adam, she had shown that she was willing to kill if it meant the betterment of her people.

But it wasn't the faunus. It was only the Fang who really gained from the violence. The reality was that the faunus that joined the Fang were the ones who were fed up with the way they were treated. Once you were in the Fang you essentially said that you were okay with starting fights and riots whenever you wanted because that was part of the cause. That kind of chaos only worked for the ones in the system. The faunus that weren't part of that system were treated just as cautiously as if they were. In turn that treatment would make them join the Fang and more outbursts happened. It was a vicious cycle.

"Sienna knows that we wouldn't support her decisions and so she's kept them hidden from us. She knows if we oppose her, then Kuo Kuana and most of Menagerie will start to oppose her as well," Ghira claimed. And that was definitely a bad look for the Fang. The faunus capital turning them away? Nothing would stop Atlas from coming in and locking them all up then.

The only reason Atlas didn't start looking for the Fang in Menagerie was because they were still widely accepted as a legitimate organisation by the faunus there. If that changed, the Fang would be in trouble.

"So she's been keeping low," Blake mumbled to herself. Kali nodded and looked between the two of them.

"Blake, please don't do anything drastic. At the end of the day, many of the people in the Fang are still just citizens. If anyone is to be your focus, it should be Sienna," her mother said. Blake nodded and looked out the window across the city. It was looking like they'd have to keep quiet about their little investigation.

"Hey, what about that Ilia girl? Would she help us?" Sun asked. Blake turned to tell him how bad an idea that was when her dad groaned.

"So you already ran into Amitola again?" he asked. She raised a brow at him.

"Had she been trouble lately?" Blake asked. She obviously wouldn't have known what Ilia was doing in Menagerie since she'd left.

"Trouble is an extreme way of putting it," Kali said, a gentle smile on her face, "more like, a minor inconvenience to your father."

"She and those two creepy brothers keep trying to give me the hard sell on why I should start making moves with the Fang," Ghira grumbled. As if being summoned, there was a ring from the door. Ghira sighed and walked over.

He opened the door and was greeted with two very similar looking men. One had large fox ears while the other had a bushy fox tail. Both had red hoods on and a similar look on their faces.

"Chief Ghira," the one with the ears started, "we're here to—"

"Tell me about all the reasons it would be _just grand _for me to start sending help in the White Fang's direction. Then I'll say 'fuck off you creepy bastards' and you'll tell me how you'll be back and then, sadly, you _will be, _and then we'll do this again," Ghira said, arms crossed and a glare on his face. The two brothers looked at each other and said nothing.

"Is that a—"

"Yes, it's another no. Now get out of here," Ghira growled. They bowed and left, promising that they'd be back and that he would change his mind eventually.

"Wow, that was... efficient," Sun said as he watched the two brothers scheme on the stairs before leaving.

"It's been like that for about a month and a half now," Ghira sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Sounds absolutely infuriating," Blake commented as she came to stand by her father. He nodded and Kali laughed.

"Fennec and Corsac have been very persistent as of late. I'm fairly sure it's because of Adam's death," Kali pointed out, "it would make sense since Adam was willing to do all the dirty jobs that they had planned. Sienna is much more likely to ignore them."

Blake hummed. It seemed like Sienna wasn't doing too well in terms of morale. If Fennec and Corsac had been trying to plan behind Sienna's back, then who knew how long she had in power before someone replaced her.

The good thing about Sienna was that they could predict what she was planning fairly easily. If somebody went and took her place then there was no telling what could be done. The White Fang wasn't as powerful as an army, but they were much quieter and much more capable of causing trouble on the streets.

"Blake, I know that look," Kali said in a low voice, "that's your 'bad idea' look."

"Hey!"

"She's right, you do have a 'bad idea' look," Sun agreed. Blake looked offended. She looked to Ghira and he nodded as well. She huffed.

"Dear, why don't you just leave the Fang be? As long as Sienna is in charge, we know that the most harm that can be done is to trains and cargo shipments," Kali asked. Blake shook her head though.

"No. We have no idea if she'll try another attack after seeing what happened at Beacon. Even if she didn't command that, she no doubt sees the effect it's had for the Fang," Blake said. They couldn't argue there. People were more afraid of the Fang than ever right now, and it showed on the streets. Faunus we're practically being avoided now, and shops that formerly turned faunus away were letting them in for fear of being attacked.

"Please don't do anything to blow up the city," Ghira groaned. Blake rolled her eyes but Sun stepped forward and saluted.

"We promise to try!" he said.

"Don't try! Just don't at all!" Ghira groaned. Sun just stayed saluting. Kali laughed at the boys antics.

"We'll make sure not to drag any civilians into this," Blake promised. Ghira nodded and walked away, presumably to fill out any work that had come his way.

"Stay safe Blake. We don't need another scare," Kali said softly. Blake looked away and said nothing. Sun elbowed her in the side and she coughed.

"I'll do my best," she said. Kali smiled and hugged her, kissing her temple before following Ghira into his study.

"Okay Sun, let's start asking around for any rumor's," she said as they left the house. Sun threw her a thumbs up and they delved into the city.

* * *

Weiss stood awkwardly in a large ballroom. She exchanged empty words with the occasional aristocrat and snob that came her way to commend her on her show. She didn't tell any of them that that was some of her worst singing in years but nobody seemed to care nor comment on it so she felt no need to bring it up.

"That was quite the performance Miss Schnee," a deep voice said from behind her. She jumped a little and turned around. The imposing form of General Ironwood greeted her.

"General Ironwood," she nodded, "it was... the least I could do."

He chuckled and leaned in a little. She made sure to lend him her ear.

"Believe me, if I had it my way we'd wouldn't be wasting time with a performance before we sent money towards Beacon," he said quickly and quietly. She smiled and nodded to him.

"You're always welcome at Atlas Academy you know," he said as he accepted a drink from a server. She sighed a little.

"I appreciate the offer General, but my place is with my team," she said. He smiled and nodded.

"I understand completely," he replied. She looked among the room. All the people gathered were other owners of companies and brands. The amount of money wasted on the outfits in this room alone could rebuild a third of Beacon.

She narrowed her eyes at her father as he spouted lies about how good a cause it was to send money to the ruined school. She huffed as she heard him even add a small hint of sadness to his voice as though he was actually there.

"Ah. I know that look well," Ironwood said form beside her. Almost forgetting where she was, she coughed into her hand and righted herself.

"What do you mean?" she asked. He chuckled lightly.

"Your sister often makes a similar face when your father is brought up in conversation," he said. She smiled at the prospect of Winter pouting whenever their dad was discussed. It sounded so very... un-Schnee like of them. She liked that.

"It's important to remember that nothing is truly keeping you here," Ironwood gestured around them, "while I would never condone one running away from their problems, sometimes it's necessary to make a... strategic retreat so to speak."

She smiled at the man. His assurance, whether he knew she planned to escape or not, helped ease her mind from the world she was currently trapped in.

"General," she started, the man turning an eye to her, "do you happen to know where Professor Goodwitch and Torchwick are heading?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. He shrugged slightly and cleared his throat.

"I was under the assumption that they were both still in Vale, helping with the rebuilding process," he replied. Weiss hummed. She knew from Neo's letter that Roman was probably with her. She didn't know if Glynda was with them as well, but the possibility was large.

"Why do you ask?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. She looked around. This time she leaned in towards the General.

"I happen to know that they're traveling to Mistral by foot as we speak. They plan to meet with the headmaster of Haven to see about setting up a new base of operations," she said. Ironwood's eyes widened for a moment but he caught himself and his face returned to normal.

"And just why would they be doing that?" he asked. She looked around again. Everyone else was talking and spouting nonsense to one another, trying to one up each other with their wealth. She turned back and whispered.

"I'm aware of the... power, that was hidden under Beacon," she stated. He looked shocked. This might have seemed like a bad idea to most people but Weiss knew better. Winter sung the general's praises, and anyone who earned her sister respect was someone she could trust.

She already knew that Ironwood knew about the maidens from Pyrrha, and since he had been working with Ozpin and the other professors to find a candidate for the power.

"How do you— ah. Miss Nikos," he said. She nodded and he looked around as well. He gestured toward the balcony and they left the large hall. Once he was sure they were alone he turned to her.

"That's very sensitive information Miss Schnee," he said. She nodded.

"I'm aware. But I know that you know, and since it would seem Torchwick and Miss Goodwitch are making an effort to combat whoever attacked the school, I felt it would be helpful if you were made aware of their course of actions," she explained. He opened his mouth to tell her that she still shouldn't have known that information, but then he stopped.

"That's... very helpful, actually. That must mean that Qrow is with them as well. Which means..." he trailed off before shaking his head. He smiled at her.

"Thank you Miss Schnee. That definitely helps give me a course of action from here. I'll make sure to send scouts to Mistral to notify me of when they arrive," he thanked. She bowed a little and looked away for a moment. A sly look entered her eyes.

"Say, General Ironwood," she started. He nodded to her and she continued.

"Say if... _somebody _wanted to sneak aboard one of these departures to Mistral, when and where would they be?" she asked as she looked him in the eye. He looked at her skeptically.

"I'm... not sure why you're asking," he said back. She looked back inside.

"Just wondering," she replied. He looked inside and saw Jaques talking to people and then it clicked. He smiled subtly.

"Well..." he said, looking off the balcony, "I don't think you'd be able to gain access to one of my dropships..."

She sighed a little but he continued.

"But I happen to know that there are a few Atlas pilots under your father's employ that fly shipments to Mistral," he finished. She shot a look his way and he sent a similar sly look back.

"And would these pilots be willing to take a passenger, provided the right... incentive?" she asked. He tilted his head back and forth.

"Generally it's illegal to accept a bribe, but I'm not sure I'd be able to track something if it were done around the end of the month," he said, "after all, there are a lot of reforms I have to fill out around that time so it can easily go overlooked."

"I see," she said with a smile, "perhaps someone should look into that before anything happens."

"Perhaps they should," Ironwood smiled back. Weiss nodded to the man and turned around to go back inside.

"Thank you General. This conversation proved... quite informative," she stated. He nodded back to her.

"Quite indeed," he replied. She walked back inside and watched as Whitley shooed away several girls his age as they tried to give him the generic suitor spiel.

She walked over and made sure to make it seem like they were incredibly engaged in conversation. Boys and girls alike seemed to give the two siblings their space to converse.

Whitley would later thank her and tell her that he'd rather pour hot tea on himself than listen to anymore pompous fools try and win his favor.

Weiss would agree with him.

* * *

Oscar was currently at the nearest train station to his house. The train would take him right into Mistral without a problem. He was a little nervous, having never really traveled away from home, and certainly never to a big city.

"_It's quite nice this time of year," _Ozpin told. The farmer nodded and went to the machine to get a ticket. He gave it the amount of lien it asked for and pushed the button for the ticket.

And then nothing happened

"Is this part of the traveling experience?" Oscar asked. Ozpin groaned.

"_No. No it is not," _he said slowly, "_how long have I been around and this _still _happens? How hard can this stuff be!?"_

Oscar just stood around and did nothing while Ozpin ranted. As he waited, a giant of a man walked up to him.

"You there, small and defenseless child," he said in a very deep voice. Ozpin stopped his rant. Actually, Ozpin stopped making noise in general.

"Um, yes?" Oscar asked.

"Are you having trouble with this?" the man asked, pointing to the machine. Oscar nodded and the man sighed.

"You must not let something so insignificant stop you from moving forward," Hazel grumbled, slamming a hand on top of the machine. Shortly after it let out a whir before spitting out a ticket.

"Oh. Thank you sir," Oscar said, a small smile on his face. Hazel waved him off and boarded the train.

"Well. At least that's settled," Oscar said, hands on his hips, "a job well done!"

"_You quite literally did nothing," _Ozpin pointed out.

"No, I got help! That's doing something," Oscar said proudly. Ozpin sighed and just let it be.

"_Just get on the damn train," _he told. Oscar nodded and boarded just as the doors closed. He read the seat number on the ticket and found it.

He was seated across from the large man who'd helped him.

"Oh. Hello!" Oscar said. Hazel looked at him and sighed, lifting two fingers in a wave.

"_You can't be serious," _Ozpin groaned. Oscar raised an eyebrow.

_What's wrong? _he asked internally, not wanting to look crazy in public.

"_Nothing. Just don't make a fool of yourself, please," _Ozpin demanded. Oscar rolled his eyes. He was perfectly capable of social interaction! Talking to people couldn't have been any different than talking to animals or voices in his head!

"_Oh good god," _Ozpin lamented. Oscar ignored him.

"So... do you have any brothers or sisters?" he asked the man. The man tensed and closed his eyes.

"_I actually hate you."_

Oscar just looked confused.

* * *

Roman held a large branch back as the others passed by. Trailing up from behind he kept an eye to the sky.

"It sounds like that rain is getting closer..." he mumbled. Glynda hummed and they all observed the sky above.

"It would also seem the Dawnbane has gone into temporary isolation. We might not get a better chance to get away," the disciplinarian observed. They all nodded and dashed off, making sure not to trip on any of the uneven ground or exposed tree roots.

As they ran, the amount of trees around them was beginning to grow smaller and smaller. Eventually, there were only two or three every few meters. Finally they all stopped when Glynda threw an arm out.

"Wait," she commanded. They were all silent as they looked to the clouds. For the most part everything was the same. The issue before them was that there weren't any trees left to hide behind, which meant they had no cover if the beast came back out.

"We need to get across this clearing fast. I see a drop at the end. Judging by the map, if we make it there we'll be a straight shot towards Kuroyuri," Roman said. Ruby and Neo nodded and Neo pat Chew on his lower back to tell him to get ready to run. Glynda kept looking at the clouds though.

"What's up Glyn?" Roman asked. She narrowed her eyes and pointed up.

"Do those clouds look... different to anyone else?" she asked. They all looked at the clouds. They all looked like clouds... except the largest cluster was a lot darker than the rest.

"What the hell...?" Roman whispered. Not only that, but the sound of rain had disappeared and it seemed they hadn't noticed.

"Is that one the rain cloud?" Ruby asked. Roman shook his head. Rain clouds were generally grey, sometimes they were dark sure.

But never pitch black.

The sound of rain picked up again and the clouds started moving their way. Then it finally clicked and Roman spun around quickly.

"RUN!" he screamed. They all heeded his ear ING and dashed towards the edge of the clearing. Ruby looked behind them and yelped.

"WHAT IS THAT!?" she screamed.

Before they could turn around or answer her, the cloud was above them. Not only that, but the rain sounded like it was right in their ears, causing all of them to wince.

"What's going on!?" Glynda shouted. Roman finally sighed and readied himself for combat.

"I think I found out how the Dawnbane controls the clouds," he groused. They all looked to jim. New began growling again.

"Why don't I just see if I'm right," he said as he pointed his cane straight up. He shot a flare up into the cloud and it exploded. The cloud dispersed.

And then it formed back together.

"What on Remnant?" Glynda asked. Roman groaned.

"That's not a cloud at all!" Roman shouted. They all looked again. The sight was a horrendous one.

"You can't be serious," Glynda whispered.

Above them, the cloud slowly descended. It stopped just above them. That was close enough for them to see what was actually going on.

"Duck!" Ruby shouted. They all dropped as a giant barbed tail swept above them. They looked up and the 'cloud' separated, leaving the Dawnbane floating in the middle and glaring down at them.

"This isn't looking like a fight we can win," Roman said as he Glynda stood back to back. She said nothing but he felt her curt nod. She knew as well as he did that this was too much for them.

"Incoming!" Ruby shouted once more. Only this time it was no tail that passed by. Rather, the 'cloud' shot past them as they dodged out of the way. They looked up and held their breath.

The cloud was in fact, a swarm. Surrounding the giant beast was an absolutely ridiculous amount of small, crow-sized Dawnbanes. The sound of rain was in fact the screeching of all of the smaller beasts, and it seemed the Alpha Dawnbane was the leader.

"We need to get out of here!" Ruby shouted as she swiped back and forth with Crescent Rose, taking out a few Dawnbanes that tried clawing at her. Neo had her umbrella up and was using Hush to keep herself safe from above as the small beasts crashed into the weapon with reckless abandon.

Roman pointed his cane back up and shot three flares into the swarm. Two of them hit the alpha, and the other exploded above and behind it. The swarm spread out and grew thin for a moment as a result. The alpha screeched and hissed in rage as it staggered in the air but was otherwise unfazed.

"Book it!" he shouted. They all ran and threw themselves off the edge of the clearing, landing roughly but still moving.

Like a flood of water, the swarm followed, cascading down the edge and following them through the trees. The alpha screeched loudly and landed, pressing its head to the ground.

Roman saw this and screamed out.

"SCATTER!" he yelled. They all dove to the side as the beast leveled it's horns at them and charged, tearing up trees and destroying rocks as it sped past them. The swarm screeched angrily and followed after, staying around the alpha at all times.

"This is ridiculous! We need to find a way to get them off our backs!" Glynda said as she readied The Disciplinarian. Roman sighed as he leveled Melodic Cudgel the same direction.

"I have an idea," he said simply. She looked to him.

"Well, it clearly didn't like being burned earlier," he stated. She looked back to his weapon and sighed.

"This is awful for the environment," she noted. He laughed.

Then he shot a flare into the trees, setting them ablaze.

Glynda followed up after, pressing her crop to the ground and focusing. Below the beast the ground glowed orange before a pillar of fire erupted and spread out.

"Okay kids, now we make a mad dash out of here before we suffocate!" Roman shouted back. They nodded as they all started running. Behind them they could hear the sound of trees getting thrown and thrashed as the Dawnbane chased them. The swarm was definitely smaller now, but nowhere near enough for them to stand a chance against the alpha.

They ran until they hit a dirt road. Roman looked up and down it and looked at the map quickly.

"Uh, um, that way!" he pointed after a brief moment. They all ran down the road as the forest fire grew larger and larger. From the forest, the beast crashed and rolled on the ground, finally standing again and facing their backs.

It raised itself up on its back legs and they could hear it breath in deeply. It reared all the way back and let out an explosive screech. They all flinched and plugged their ears as the noise rattled them.

Neo fell to one knee and had an eye closed in pain. Ruby followed shortly after and Roman and Glynda were struggling to stay standing as the monster continued. Chew turned around and snarled viciously before sucking in.

"Wait what's he—" Roman was cut off when Chew howled and and he had to cover his ears again. The Dawnbane winced back a little and glared down the dog.

"GOOD BOY!" Roman shouted, now partially deaf, "NOW LET'S GO!"

"WHAT!?" Ruby shouted, Roman looked at her in confusion.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY RED!?" he asked back. Glynda and Neo groaned and grabbed the two to start running. Chew stomped his front paw down and turned, dashing after the others.

The alpha screeched again, but this time they'd gained enough distance to avoid the pain. Sadly, this screech wasn't an attack, but a call, as the swarm returned and awaited orders. The beast leveled its horns at them again and the smaller ones got the message.

The swarm zipped ahead of the alpha, flying I to them and clawing at them to try and impede their movement. Glynda sent out a large blast and sent most of them flying away and crashing into trees around the road.

"AHH!" Roman pointed. They all dodged again as the alpha carved through the road and past them. It stopped a short distance away and it's tail raised behind it as it lowered its upper body.

"It's throwing its spines!" he called. They all split up, Roman and Glynda going left and Ruby, Neo, and Chew going right. As they separated, sharp spikes impaled themselves in the ground where they once stood. The beast turned to swipe at Roman and Glynda, while it's tail whipped over the others. They only just barely ducked in time to avoid getting struck.

"Keep going!" Glynda shouted as they all reconvened on the other side of the beast, continuing their escape down the road. Roman squinted ahead and pointed.

"There's a bridge up ahead! Maybe we can ditch this thing if we cripple it!" he yelled.

They all poured it on as they pushed their legs to pump faster, the beast trying to claw, bite, and stab them the whole time. The swarm was tiny now, easily only a tenth as large as it had been. Sadly, that was still about a hundred small Dawnbanes and one giant angry alpha to deal with.

"Get across the bridge!" Glynda shouted. They all dashed and sped to the other side. Below them, was a fairly long and steep drop, and at the bottom was a river. They reached the other side and turned to fight, the beast preparing to leap and take to the skies again. Ruby turned to the two adults.

"Torchwitch!" she yelled. Roman and Glynda groaned as they leveled their weapons.

"We seriously have to review these attack names," Roman demanded. Ruby laughed sheepishly.

Roman shot a flare out and Glynda surrounded it with a barrage of magic missiles. The result was a ball of purple fire, roughly the size of Neo, that spun and exploded once it made contact with the beast. The resulting blast of fire incinerated the rest of the swarm. The alpha screeched out as it was set ablaze and stumbled forward into the bridge. The old wooden structure wasn't meant to handle fire, or a beast of the Dawnbanes size, and so it collapsed. The monstrosity screeched as it plummeted into the river below.

They all caught their breath and let out various sighs of relief. Roman leaned back and groaned.

"Oh man that was terrible. I am _never _doing that again," he groaned. Neo giggled and Ruby smiled at the man's complaining. Glynda rolled her eyes and started moving again, albeit at a much more relaxed pace.

"That was quite the experience, I will admit," she said as they all walked down the path.

"Thank the Brothers it's over," Roman said, wincing as he rubbed his ear.

"To think such a deadly beast is capable of such coordination. It's just awful," Glynda mused. Roman nodded and adjusted his gloves.

"No kidding," he grumbled. They were maybe a hundred feet or so away from where the bridge had burned down now when a low hiss reached their ears.

"No fucking way," Roman sighed. They all turned and watched as the beast clawed its way up the side of the ravine and glared at them with all four of its eyes.

It pulled itself all the way up and shook its body, ridding itself of any excess water. Its wings were torn and tattered, and it was singed along the chest and lower body. It growled as it dragged a claw across the ground a few times.

"It's charging again," Roman said as he got ready to move. The others did the same. The beast roared out as it charged forth like a predatory feline, front legs dragging it forward while back legs pushed it further. As it charged, Chew leapt out in front of them.

"Chew!? What are you doing!?" Ruby yelped as she and Neo tried to grab him. He jumped away from them and did the same motion the beast did, dragging a paw across the ground.

Then he took off directly at the charging beast.

"CHEW!" Ruby screamed. Roman and Glynda watched in complete shock as the dog bolted into a head on collision with the Dawnbane. Neo looked like she might pass out with how pale she'd gone.

Chew was picking up speed as he pumped himself further and further, head leveled with the beasts. The two quickly grew closer and closer, and Chew had his armored head pointed at the beast.

Then they collided.

The sound was like a gong being hit so hard it shattered.

Chew's aura flared out, his head was pressed directly into the Dawnbanes. There was a moment where they struggled for ground, but then Chew jumped back. The beast staggered for a moment before shaking its head

Then the white spiny plate on its face broke in half and fell off. The beast watched the bone armor fall to the ground in front of it and slowly looked back at the dog.

Chew had been practically unaffected, save for a drastic drop in aura.

Then the beast screeched out in pain.

It grabbed at its face and fell to the floor, rolling and shaking as it registered the loss it had suffered just now. The plating had been completely removed from its head, leaving its face unprotected.

Neo and Ruby used that to their advantage when the shattered into existence above its head. Ruby screamed out as she shot herself down. Neo planted a boot on the end of her blade as well.

They crashed down into the back of the beast as it moved forward slightly. The two were now effectively stuck in the monsters back.

"Uh oh," Ruby said. The beast roared as it felt the weapons in it's back. It bucked and jumped around, rolling and bashing itself against trees to try and rid the two girls from its body.

Chew watched as his owner was stuck to the beast. Glynda and Roman walked up and Roman was at a loss for words.

"I think I'm having a stroke right," he mumbled as he watched the beast being used like a rodeo machine. Albeit a giant, deadly rodeo machine, but still.

Glynda simply nodded as the two girls yelped and screamed. The beast didn't even seem to notice the two adults or the dog that had wounded it. It was only focused on getting the girls off.

"I... feel like we should help but... I don't know how," Glynda said slowly. Roman agreed. They couldn't exactly shoot the beast again or they ran the risk of hitting the girls.

"HELP US ALREADY! I THINK I'M GONNA HURL!" Ruby shouted. Neo was looking green as well.

"Okay kiddo, just hang tight!" Roman said. He looked around and patted himself down for something to help. As he did, a light blue dust Crystal fell out of his pocket.

Chew walked over and sniffed it. He licked it once. Then twice.

Then he picked it up and bit down into it.

"Wha— hey! Bad boy! Drop that!" Roman said as the dog crunched into the dust Crystal like it was a treat.

"Did... did he just _eat _the dust?" Glynda asked. Roman was in shock as well. Chew stepped forward and took a deep breath again.

"Wait, what are you doing now—" Roman was once again cut off as the dog barked.

Only this time, a wave of freezing cold air left his mouth and froze one of the Dawnbanes arm-wings solid. The beast stopped thrashing as it tried to move, but found the new ice encasing it's wing was too heavy.

Ruby and Neo pried their weapons free and jumped off the monster, landing in a heap before the two adults and looking dizzy.

"Oh my god that was such a bad idea," Ruby groaned out. Neo nodded as she closed her eyes to stop the spinning.

Meanwhile, Roman and Glynda were stuck staring at the dog. He barked again but no ice came out this time. Then he turned and looked up at Roman happily.

"I... guess he can do that," Roman said as he scratched the back of the dogs head. Glynda nodded numbly and said nothing.

The beast was starting to use it's other arm to bash the ice. Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, Roman casually walked up to it and shoved the end of his cane in its mouth when it roared at him.

"You're too loud," he grumbled, pulling the trigger. The beasts head rocked back as the flare went off in its throat. It growled quietly and the red left its eyes as it slumped forward, crashing to the ground. It slowly dissipated, and soon enough all that remained was the ice that had encased it's arm.

"Okay. _Now _it's dead," Roman said. Glynda sighed and helped the two girls up. They looked at Chew who hopped up on them and effectively brought them back down to the ground.

"Ack! Good boy Chew! Now stop licking us! Your tongue is as big as my hand!" Ruby groaned as the dog kissed the two girls. He stopped and backed up as the once again climbed to their feet.

"Note to self; keep a spare dust shard on hand for the dog," Roman said. Neo nodded and smashed the dogs face, scratching him and telling him how good he was.

"To think that he's capable of such feats. Granted he's out of aura from that tackle, but now that we know he can imbue his shouts with dust he's a much more versatile combatant," Glynda mused. Roman laughed and started walking up the road again. According to the map, they were almost at Kuroyuri. Roman could even faintly see the town in the distance.

They looked up as it started to rain. Actual rain too, not tiny demon bat Grimm making the sound of rain. They heard thunder in the distance as well.

"Let's just find the others and get to Mistral already. I need a bed and a shower," Roman groaned. The others agreed and followed after. Chew found a stick he liked and brought it with him.

He earned it.

"I hope the others are okay," Ruby sighed. Neo grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"I'm sure they're just fine Ruby. Qrow is a capa Le huntsman, and wouldn't let any harm come to them," Glynda assured. Ruby nodded. That was true.

Her uncle wouldn't let anyone get hurt.

* * *

"OW! I'M INCREDIBLY HURT!" Mercury shouted as he was slammed into the side of a building by a long, clawed arm.

"Hang on Merc! We'll get you down!" Miltia called up to the boy. Melanie yelped as she too was grabbed and slammed into the building. She was suspended above the boy and he looked up at her.

"Isn't red your sisters color?" he asked with a smirk. She blushed and covered herself.

"SHUT UP PERV!" she yelled. Miltia and him laughed. It was cut off when the claws squeezed and he and Melanie groaned in pain as their auras flared.

"Okay, a little help would be nice now!" Mercury wheezed as he was being crushed. Qrow leapt and slashed the beasts arms and they withdrew, the monstrosity screaming at them.

They had come through this village, even though Ren had said not to, and then they were confronted by what had to be one of the ugliest and most disturbing Grimm they'd ever seen.

"We told you coming here was a bad idea!" Nora shouted as she and Ren danced back to avoid being crushed by the large beast. It was like a horse, except growing out of its spine was a humanoid figure. The humanoid had two long, curled horns and a face that was as terrifying as it was disgusting. In its back were weapons from past battles, all stuck in its flesh from years of killing.

The Nuckelavee was an intimidating figure, and not one that they had wanted to deal with.

Yang was with Jaune and Pyrrha, who they'd hidden under a house. She was still concussed and had no real way of fighting without hurting herself further. She opted to make sure nothing happened to the two while the rest fought.

"Well we had to come here regardless! These two were dying! We couldn't risk taking the long way!" Qrow shouted as he dodged backwards. The imp like figure on the back spun around, arms out trying to catch anything in its flailing.

"This thing is fuck-ugly!" Melanie said as she and Miltia dashed in and sliced at the horses legs. Both heads cried out, and the horse started moving again. The twins darted away before they could get trampled.

"It looks like they share one brain," Miltia observed. The rest nodded. While one head was active, the other would remain still.

"We'll fan out and surround it! Close in when you can to keep it on the back burner!" Qrow commanded. They all nodded and split up, circling the beast. Nora charged in from behind and was met with a swift horse kick. She cried out as she flew through the wall of a building.

She'd been doing a lot of that lately. Go figure.

The twins both dashed in and stacked opposite legs, making it hard for the horse body to attack both of them at once without losing balance. It turned around and used its head to toss Melanie away. Now it was facing the opposite direction and the horse head was facing a large clocktower.

"Ragh!" Mercury and Qrow yelled out as they jumped in. The imp body sprang to life and tried to stop them but it wasn't fast enough for the two.

Mercury had his leg up and dropped it down fast and hard, cracking the beasts head down and throwing its body with it. As it slowly raised itself back up, Qrow landed and shot it in the mouth twice before leaping away.

It spun to clear the area and the horse came to life and bucked to keep them away. Nora shifted Magnhild into hammer form and used it to launch herself on top of the clocktower. She raised her hammer skywards and a crack of lightning shot through her hammer and into her body. She flexed as she felt the power flow through her and smiled. She looked down the tower and saw the others keeping the beast in place. This was her best shot.

"SHE'S DROPPING!" Miltia shouted as she and the others leapt back. Confused by their sudden retreat the creature looked around.

Then it screeched out in agony as the head of the horse was completely and utterly obliterated under the force of Nora's strike. She stood, Magnhild stuck deep in the earth and the beast body slumped with it. She gave Ren a look and he nodded. Took out a knife and looked over it before striding towards the monster.

He walked around the beast slowly. It swung its arms out but they were intercepted.

Qrow and Mercury were holding its left arm in place, while the twins had their blades pierced through its arm and into the ground on the right.

Ren walked up onto the beasts body and it screeched loudly in his face. He took a moment to wipe some of the saliva off. Then he severed its left arm.

It writhed and hissed and opened its mouth to scream again but he wasn't fazed as he reared back and cut off its right arm. Now it slumped forward, defeated. Yang had come to see what was happening too. She had dragged Jaune and Pyrrha with her.

Ren looked it in the eyes and took a deep breath. He raised the dagger, and in one swift movement, decapitated the imps head. The rest of the body finally lost all tension and simply fell, slowly dissipating as the rain washed the ashes away.

There was slow clapping and they all turned to see where it was coming from.

"Bravo kid. Nice form," Roman said as he, Glynda, and the girls entered the clearing. Chew walked behind them, a large stick in his mouth.

"Ruby!" Yang and Qrow shouted as they dashed to the girl. They both tackled her and hugged her close. Roman laughed.

"Where's my hug? Last time I checked _I _was the one who was supposed to get kidnapped," he said haughtily. Qrow gave him a look and the two laughed shortly after.

"Good to see you again brother," Qrow said, sticking an arm out, "you had us worried."

"Good to see you too," Roman said, grabbing the man's arm at the forearm, "we had ourselves worried too."

"Hey! Hey Torchwick! Did ya see what we just did!? We totally destroyed this thing! It was super cathartic and everything!" Nora shouted as she and the others made their way to the group, now reunited.

"Yeah I saw. And what do you mean cathartic?" he asked. Nora opened her mouth but Ren placed a hand over it.

"Later. Jaune and Pyrrha are very much poisoned," Ren said. Roman sighed and looked across the clearing. Sure enough, the two kids were laying in the ground together and looked as pale as corpses.

"Well that's not the good news I was hoping to hear," the crook grumbled. Qrow nodded and explained what exactly had happened. Roman and Glynda took the time to do the same, earning a look of shock from the drunk.

"You guys _killed _a Dawnbane? And you found out how they control the clouds?" he asked in disbelief. They nodded and gave them a smirk.

"Well shit, color me impressed," he said. They all went to gather the two incapacitated hunters. As they grabbed them, there was a whirring noise overhead.

"What the hell is that?" Roman asked. They all looked up and saw two Mistral bullheads hovering above. One was a large carrying ship. The other was an escort bullhead, suited for mild aerial combat.

"It's bullheads! Mistral bullheads! We're not fucked anymore!" Roman called. They all sighed and cheered in relief.

Then a spotlight shined down from each ship and centered themselves on Roman.

"_Roman Torchwick, you are hereby placed under arrest for attempted escape into Mistral territory while holding an excessive criminal bounty!" _one of the soldiers said with a megaphone.

"Say what now?" Roman asked. Shortly after he was shot with a taser and convulsed for a moment before dropping unconscious.

"_The rest of you are welcome to board our ships while we escort the criminal back to Mistral for trial!" _the soldier said. The ship's lowered slowly as Glynda sighed.

"Qrow, you handle getting all of the kids settled and getting Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos the help they need. I'll handle the guards," she growled, stomping forward. Qrow nodded even though she hadn't been looking at him in the first place. He looked to the former students.

"You heard the woman! Unless you want her on your asses too I suggest you move it!" he said. They all took no time scrambling into the larger bullhead.

* * *

Salem looked into her magic ball made of crystals. Cinder had once called it a 'crystal ball' but that was a stupid name. And it was wrong! It wasn't a 'crystal ball' it was a magic ball _made _of crystals!

Amatuers.

Not one, but _two _of her favorite Grimm babies were just killed! She wasn't mad of course, she had about twenty more of each somewhere in the Grimmlands, but still!

She had been replaying the Grimms final moments. Particularly the Dawnbanes. She watched her object of affection run and fight. He was so handsome when he was terrified for his life!

She sighed, however, as she saw the way he interacted with that 'good witch' woman. So what about 'good' witches!? What was wrong with a bad witch! And Salem knew for a fact she was the baddest witch around! One bad witch.

Damn that sounded better on paper.

She sent a message ahead to Watts who had arrived in Mistral. She needed to k o whether or not Leonardo needed to be strangled or not. She'd do it herself, but it was hard to leave the Grimmlands without people screaming and pointing and hiding their children.

Oh how she missed the beautiful smile of a child.

All she had was Tyrian. And his smiling was just disturbing. Speaking of...

"Tyrian, how long must you sit there?" she asked. Tyrian had been bowing to her for about two days now. He'd returned without Roman and that had been quite disappointing. Oh and his tail was gone or whatever, she didn't really care about that part.

"Until I've redeemed myself to you my goddess!" he cried. She groaned and waved a hand in a shooing motion.

"No. You smell. Go shower or something, and then maybe we'll talk," she ordered. He bowed and ran out of the room.

"AND USE SOAP THIS TIME!" she called. Sometimes she missed the quality of sane allies.

Alas, sane and evil didn't often connect.

There was a knocking at her throne room door and she raised a brow. Cinder and her little pet or whatever were the only two people still here. They were set to leave for Mistral after they secured the spring maiden.

"Enter," she said. The door creaked open and Cinder's little lapdog entered the room. She was holding a few boxes stacked on top of each other.

"Oh it's you. Uh, Greeny?" she tried. Emerald made a face.

"Um, it's Emerald... your majesty," she replied. She placed the boxes down next to the woman. Salme looked at the boxes and then to her. Then she repeated the process two more times.

"What the hell are these?" she asked finally. Emerald blushed a little and opened and closed her mouth. Her hands flapped around uselessly for a moment as she searched for an explanation.

"Um. They're... sex toys," she said. Salem gave her a blank look.

"They're what?" she asked.

"Oh Lord," the girl sighed. She took one out randomly and blushed more at the one she'd pulled.

"So you just take this," she gestured to the boxed object labeled _The Admiral (nine inches), _"and you... put it inside yourself."

Emerald placed the box in the woman's hands. Salem looked over the box and then back to the other boxes.

"And that's what you do with all of these?" she asked, gesturing to the boxes. Emerald winced.

"Uh, not exactly. There instructions included so I'll leave you to... figure this out," Emerald said as she sidestepped slowly out of the room. Once she was gone Salem looked back to the object in her hands.

"Is this what humans have been doing for the last millennium?" she asked herself. She took the toy out of the box. True to the label it was nine inches. She noted that it was definitely phallic in form. There was a button on the bottom. She raised an eyebrow. Why would there be a button?

She pressed down on it and the object started vibrating. What was the point of that? Was it meant to massage? She looked around the room. She raised a hand and the door to her throne room locked magically. She lowered the device to the southern region of her body.

"Oh! Ohhhhh..." she finally realized as she made contact.

She'd have to make sure Greeny was compensated for this. She had _definitely_ missed out on this in her solitude from humans.

But for now...

"Let's see what else is in these boxes," she mused.

* * *

"So is Roman going to jail or...?" Ruby trailed off.

"No, you little brat! I'm right here!" Roman said, throwing his arms up. Neo laughed at him and he flicked her in the nose. She played up the pain to a ridiculous degree and fell back onto Chew, who had finally had his armor removed. He barked in excitement, assuming it was all play.

"Drama queen," Ruby giggled as she poked the girl in the side. Neo twitched and looked at the girl offended. Ruby laughed again as Neo pouted.

"How are our resident knights?" Roman asked. Glynda walked in as he asked and handed him a clipboard.

"Alive and well. The poison had been drained and their wounds are set to heal with no permanent disabilities," she told him. He nodded and looked over the details. He whistled. That was a lot of drugs they were on.

As Roman and Glynda talked, Ruby and Neo took chew back to their room on the ship. The ship didn't have many bedrooms, but it had enough for them to share. Neo told Ruby she wanted to check on something and left. As she was walking along the ship, she found who she was looking for.

_Time to make this happen once and for all! _she thought to herself.

She slowly snuck up behind Ren and Nora, who casually had their hands atop one another's. They were leaning into each other and Neo knew this was the best opportunity. There was a view and everything!

She lightly tapped them both on the shoulder. They turned to look at each other.

"Hm?—"

"What's up?—"

They were both cut off as Neo simply took hold of the backs of their heads and pressed their faces into one another. They both gasped. Nora went bright red and Ren's ears were red as well.

Neo danced back as they sputtered and looked to her. She winked and blew them a kiss before shattering. Like that, she was gone, leaving the two to awkwardly look away from each other.

"Good Lord, you two need to bone already," Mercury groaned as he walked past. The twins and Yang laughed at the boys words as they followed behind. They left the

"He's right you know," another voice said. They turned to see Jaune and Pyrrha limping to them. They stood to help them but they both were too stubborn to let them help. They made it to the same edge of the bullhead that the two had been sitting at before.

"Are you two sure it's okay for you to be out of your beds?" Ren asked. Jaune waved him off.

"Not in the slightest. But we wanted to be with our team," he said. Pyrrha nodded and leaned into her partner.

"You two really should be more open though," she said with closed eyes and a sly smile. They both stammered again and the two knights laughed.

"You do whatever you feel is right," Jaune said. They all laughed and looked out at the passing landscape. Nora looked over at Ren who was still observing the view. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

He broke out of his trance and looked at her, but by the time he turned, she was the one looking out over the land below. He looked at her in shock and she sent a mischievous look his way. He intended his body and leaned in. He kissed her back and she went red, but the sly look she had remained. They both laughed a little and the team enjoyed the moment for what it was.

Roman and Glynda were off in their own room. They were both lying on the bed, neither had removed anything except their shoes. Roman gently placed his hat off to the side.

"When we get to Mistral and find the new Ozpin or whatever, I'm smacking him for today," the thief sighed.

"Don't go too hard on him. I need to get a hit in as well," she said as she smiled over to the crook. They both shared a laugh and leaned into each other.

"Magic and gods and crazy Grimm queens," he said. She didn't add anything to the list, she knew he was just repeating it to himself for clarity.

"And yet here you stand; still following along," she said. He huffed and smiled at her.

"Yeah well, let's just say the women in my life wouldn't let me get away with doing what I wanted to do," he mused. Glynda slapped him lightly and he laughed.

"You should listen more to the women in your life. One of them keeps you alive and the other keeps you out of jail," she quipped. He smirked at her.

"Jokes on you, I don't know which one does which," he said smugly. She laughed out loud at that.

"Quite frankly, neither do I," she claimed. He laughed with her again and they let themselves fall asleep.

Tomorrow, they'd be in Mistral, probably even Haven.

But for now, they'd all get a little rest.

* * *

"You know as well as I do that she doesn't take kindly to failure," Watts stated. The man across from him tensed.

"I know but... this I a rather strange new turn of orders," the man said back. Watts couldn't disagree with him there.

"I'm aware it's not the most... orthodox of requests, but it's what _she's _demanded and it's what _you'll _do. Understood?" Watts commanded. The man gripped the arm of his chair.

"Understood. I will do my best to see to it that Roman Torchwick is captured alongside the relic," he agreed begrudgingly.

"Thank you Leonardo. This will make her very happy," Watts said. Leonardo Lionheart nodded and sighed.

He just had to remind himself that it was all for Mistral.

* * *

**And volume four done. Yaaaaaaay.**

**If you couldn't tell, I'm not the biggest fan of volume four. They do a lot of talking and explaining, which is fine, but boy oh boy does it just start to drag. Volume five isn't great either but it at least has a few more good moments than volume four.**

**I also hope the new Grimm wasn't too confusing. If you really want to know what I was trying to picture, think about a fusion of a bat, a gargoyle, and a nargacuga from monster hunter.**

**I skimmed the Nuckelavee fight honestly. I made sure not to completely skip it but after the first fight I just felt like it'd be repetitive. I also had to cripple a few people since the threat is pretty low with all of them up and about, as I said last chapter.**

**At any rate, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are greatly appreciated and follows and favorites are as well (though none of it is necessary of course).**

**I wanted to get another chapter out before my birthday and I hope to get one out before I go back to school!**

**As always have a wonderful time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew please!**

* * *

**Omake: Oscar talks to Hazel on the train**

"Uh, do you have any family at all?" Oscar asked. Hazel had his face him his hands by this point and was tapping a finger on the table.

"_Oscar has anyone ever told you that you're just _great _at reading the room?" _Ozpin asked. Oscar hummed to himself.

_Not that I know of! _He thought back.

"_Good. If anyone did, they deserve to be shot," _Ozpin told. Oscar frowned. Well that was just rude.

"Okay, okay, what do you do for work? I work on my family's farm!" Oscar tried instead. Hazel just looked at him with an expression that said 'this has just as bad an answer as the first question'. Of course, Oscar didn't know that and instead waited patiently for the man to reply.

"I'm... a construction worker," Hazel said. Ozpin groaned inwardly and tried to find a way to kill himself from with the boys head.

"Oh. What do you build?" Oscar asked. Hazel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Houses," he said simply. Oscar nodded.

"That's good. Lots of houses need to be built in these times," Oscar mused. Hazel nodded slowly. Ozpin contemplated taking over now and telling Hazel that it was him, just so that he wouldn't have to deal with the situation anymore.

"Hey, do have you ever had a voice in your head that tells you that you need to go places and do things?" Oscar asked. Ozpin went on alert immediately. Why would he ask that!?

"That's... quite the specific question..." Hazel said. Eyes narrowed. He looked around before leaning forward.

"Are you... looking for _him _too?" Hazel asked. Oscar looked around as well before whispering back.

"Yeah, some guy who calls himself Ozpin?" he said. Hazel's face was grim and he nodded. He suddenly seemed more eager to talk to the boy.

"Did Ozpin wrong you too?" Hazel asked.

"_Tell him no and that I am dead!" _Ozpin demanded. If Oscar died not only would he have the blood of a child on his hands, but he'd have to start over again!

"Well, he technically forced me into a position where I had to leave my family behind and stop doing the work that I've been doing my whole life so that I could go and fight some great evil or something," Oscar said in one breath, not once breaking stride. Hazel placed a hand on Oscars shoulder.

"That's how he got Gretchen," Hazel sighed. He pat the boys boulder again.

"Let me tell you a thing or two about what really matters in a person..." Hazel began a long talk about honor and trust. Ozpin wanted to throw himself under the train.

Oscar sat and listened with enthusiasm.

They truly were worlds apart.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello hello! I'm back with another chapter! Last time we squared away the last of volume four, and I'm ready to jump right into volume five!**

**As I said last time, I'm not particularly fond of volume four and five. Too much nothing happening while they make it sound like stuff is actually happening.**

**At any rate, please keep up the reviews! They're all appreciated!**

* * *

Weiss packed away Myrtenaster and made sure she had dust on hand. She sighed as she prepared the bribe she had acquired for the cargo pilot. It was enough that no working class man would say no to it.

She heard a knock at the door. It was too informal to be Klein and her father rarely knocked, preferring to announce that he was there so as not to dirty his hands. Which really only left one person.

"Come in Whitley," she said aloud. The door opened and she turned to see her brother smiling at her.

"Off to the races are we?" he asked. She nodded, clasping Myrtenaster to her hip and adjusting her dress.

"We are indeed. If I could bring you with me I would, but we both know it's too dangerous," she reasoned. He nodded, not even arguing.

"Indeed. I'm afraid I'm much more accustomed to the life of a businessman and a CEO. I don't fancy my chances in the wild after what you've told me," he claimed as he stepped into her room.

"It's not nearly as bad as you'd think," she said, hands on her hips. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Weiss, you literally told me about a beast called a Deathstalker. Death is in the name," he said. Her ears went red but she refused to blush in front of her brother. Schnee pride at its finest.

"At any rate, please do be careful," he said, now in front of her, "it'd be nice if the next I see of you isn't in a casket."

"Please brother," she said, brushing her ponytail over her shoulder, "I refuse to die."

"I'm sure the Grimm will happy to respect that sentiment," he rolled his eyes. She laughed and he joined her shortly after. When it ceased, she stepped forward and hugged him.

"I'll return as soon as I can," she promised. He hugged her back and snickered.

"Don't be careless. I'd rather you took your time and came back alive than rushed to get back to me and hurt yourself," he said. They broke apart and she nodded.

"I'll be okay," she said. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I suppose that's the best I'll get," he said. They left her room and she closed her door. As they walked down the hall they took care to step quietly. It was almost midnight, and the shipment of dust that Ironwood had tipped her off to was set to leave soon.

They stopped in front of the back door of the manor. She turned again and looked her brother in the eyes. He smiled and they hugged again, when they broke they shared no more words. They nodded to one another and she left.

She found her way across the back courtyard and to the private bullhead docks they owned. She found the pilot standing outside the bullhead and walked up to him with purpose.

"I'm really putting myself out there doing this," he said as she stopped in front of him. She nodded and handed him the lien. He flipped through it quickly and sighed, pointing a thumb behind him.

"Get in the back, we take off in five," he said. She exchanged no words as she stepped into the back and got as comfortable as she could on top of the boxes. She sighed. Not the most luxurious of travel experiences she's had but it'd do. She'd be in Mistral soon enough.

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the side of the ship. She'd try and catch any sleep she could get.

* * *

"Okay, I spy with my little eye, something made of stone," Mercury said. The others all groaned.

"Is it the stones in this tunnel?" Jaune asked. Mercury snapped and pointed to him in fake enthusiasm.

"You got it buddy!" he said. They all shared a brief laugh.

"Why the hell did they build this long as tunnel to Mistral!? Why not just build a road!?" Miltia whined. Melanie nodded.

"Oh, I can't wait to finally get a real meal and a stiff drink," Roman groaned. Glynda said nothing but nodded subtly.

"Well then you're all in luck," Qrow said. They looked ahead to him as he stood in front of a large set of doors.

"Welcome to Mistral everybody," he said as he pushed them open. They all stepped out onto the platform behind the door. It overlooked the large valley that Mistral was settled in and had a great view of all the tall houses and buildings. Waterfalls surrounded the city and Haven Academy sat overlooking the kingdom from above.

"Damn," Melanie said. She and her sister smiled as they observed the view.

"Nice to see something new right?" Yang asked as she watched Ruby hawk at the sight. The twins shook their heads in unison.

"Nah, this isn't new to us," they said. All of them but Roman and Neo looked at them in confusion.

"I thought you guys were from Vale. Don't you live with your uncle?" Jaune asked. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Nah, we were born here but our mom sent us to live in Vale with our dad's brother after he died. That's Junior," Melanie said. Miltia nodded and followed up.

"Yeah, our mom runs a crime ring in the seedier parts of Mistral," she said without a second of hesitation. Glynda smacked her face and Roman laughed.

"Sounds about right," Mercury said. They all took their time walking down into the city, and then had to walk around looking for a bullhead up to Haven for another hour.

"Man, I remember this place being a lot less... grimey," Roman said. Glynda raised an eyebrow his way.

"You've been to Mistral before?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yep. Back when I was still in Shade. My old team and I came here and got absolutely _fucked up _on some Mistrali Black," he smiled as he reminisced. Qrow and Glynda looked at him in concern.

"Wasn't that stuff banned a few years back for being incredibly bad for your liver?" Qrow asked. Roman shrugged.

"Probably. All I know is that we had a _good _time," he smirked. Glynda slapped his arm and he laughed.

"Enough about your awful drug addled past. The next bullhead arrives soon and we're still ten minutes away from the loading platforms," Glynda said. They all started to hurry and move faster.

"Don't you two wanna see your mom?" Pyrrha's asked as the twins as they all moved through crowds and past street vendors.

"Nah. She'll find out we're here and call for us. We should probably handle the important shit first," Melanie said.

"Yeah, plus our mom's pretty cool. As long as you don't act up with her she's pretty chill," Miltia said.

"There's the bullhead!" Nora cut the conversation off as she pointed to the bullhead slowly coming down. They were still two or so blocks away from the loading bay.

"Ruby run ahead! Use your small body to keep the doors open!" Roman said. She saluted and ran ahead, a blur of red as she zipped between people.

"Hey! Watch it you little snot!" some greasy street rat yelled as she bumped into him while he was searching through a trash can and kept running. As they all ran by, Neo took an extra moment to kick the man into the pile of garbage and keep going.

"Wait! Neo go back and grab his shoes!" Roman said as he saw the opportunity. He and Neo turned around and jumped the man, stealing his shoes.

"No wait! Those are the most expensive things I own!" he yelled.

"Exactly!" Roman shouted as the two ran away with his shoes. Once a thief, always a thief.

"When my boss hears about this, she'll have you both killed!" the man screamed at their backs. Neither even turned to acknowledge him as they ran. When they finally caught up nobody seemed to question why they had a pair of shoes with them.

They all looked around for Ruby and saw her being stopped by a guard. She seemed to be trying to squeeze pay him but he wasn't moving.

"I already told you that you need a ticket!" he said. She whined.

"But we don't have any money left!" she cried. Roman grabbed the pair of shoes out of Neo's hands and walked up to the man.

"Want a new pair of shoes?" he asked the guard. The man looked the shoes over and then looked at Roman.

"Aren't you that famous thief from Vale?" he asked.

"No, you must be thinking of someone else," Roman said. The man looked back at the shoes and shrugged. He took the shoes and stepped aside.

"Right this way," he said as he extended an arm out. They all thanked him as they stepped on the bullhead.

"Onwards to Haven!" Nora shouted, a fist in the air. The bullhead lurched and took off, ascending the valley quickly. It was only a short amount of time later that they arrived at Haven grounds, all of them stepping off the craft and looking around.

"It's... pretty quiet here, eh?" Mercury observed as they all glanced around. The others mumbled forms of agreement as they scanned the area.

"Strange. Where is everyone?" Glynda asked aloud. Qrow looked skeptical as well and he moved with a certain alertness now.

"I don't like the feeling of this," the man mumbled quietly. Roman nodded and looked towards the windows of the buildings around them. There were no people watching them back either and he made sure to say so.

"Cool! So there's nobody here, and we aren't being watched, which circles back to the first point that there's _nobody here,"_ Yang groused.

They all followed Qrow and Glynda as the two navigated the group to the headmasters office. As they wound their way through empty halls, Ruby asked a question.

"What's the headmaster of Haven like?" she looked ahead to her uncle and the former headmistress. Glynda took the lead while Qrow answered.

"Leonardo Lionheart is an... interesting person for a huntsman," he started, rubbing the back of his head, "you'll find that he's a little more..."

"Skittish?" Glynda proposed. Qrow shrugged.

"I was gonna say antsy buy that works too," he finished.

"Oh great. I'm sure a super paranoid leadership figure won't somehow come back to bite us in the ass," Miltia groaned.

"I'm sure this guy's not that bad," Roman tried, before mumbling to Neo, "nobody can be worse than Fall."

Neo nodded and quickly signed 'bitch' to the crook. Seemed she was still mad about the whole neck slicing thing. Who would've thought?

As they approached the doors to the headmasters office, Qrow readied himself. He turned and put three fingers up. As he lowered one, they all prepared their weapons, just in case. When he lowered the next he took a small step back. He lowered the last finger and reared back before kicking to door off its hinges.

They all leapt into the office and took aim, pointing in every direction and being on full alert mode.

"There's... nobody in here," Ren said after a moment. They all sighed and sheathed their weapons. As they were about to turn around and leave, they heard whistling.

"~Da dada da da da— AHHHH!" a lion faunus screamed as he turned the corner and came face to face with the merry band of hunters.

"What!? Why!? Where!? When!? The door! That was hand carved!" Lionheart shouted in rapid succession from the floor. Qrow sighed and strolled forward. He reached a hand out and hauled the older man to his feet.

"Leo, we're here to help," he stated bluntly.

"Wha- Qrow? What the hell are you doing here!? Better yet, _when _and _how _the hell did you get here!?" the headmaster asked. Qrow looked back to all of them. He sighed and rubbed a hand down his face as he watched Roman slowly slide a trophy from one of the shelves into his coat. The thief looked back, froze, and waved, smiling the whole time.

"We uh, had a little journey and were supposed to meet Oz here. He should be arriving any day now," Qrow said. Lionheart looked to all of them nervously before looking back to Qrow.

"Ah. I see. That's... wonderful," he smiled in a very fake manor.

"This guy's a rat," Roman whispered to Glynda. She elbowed him quickly and he rolled his eyes.

"So... Ozpin's still... alive, eh?" Lionheart asked, fingers tapping together in front of him.. Qrow nodded.

"Yeah, you know how it goes. You hear from him at all?" the drunk asked. He shook his head.

"Not that I know of, no. Knowing Ozpin he could be anywhere," Lionheart claimed. Qrow nodded. That was true.

But Ozpin was probably fine right now.

* * *

"... And that's why you should never trust Ozpin when he says that he's got humanity's best interest at heart. If you ever have another run in with him, it would be best for everyone if you offed him," Hazel said as he and Oscar stepped off the train.

"_Why did you not tell him to stop?" _Ozpin asked.

_He's got some valid points. You are kind of an asshole, _Oscar thought. Ozpin replied by forcing the taxes from Beacon from the last ten years through the boys mind all at once. Oscar got a headache immediately.

"And don't even get me started on how Ozpin likes to kill children!" Hazel ranted, fully invested in what was essentially an entirely one sided conversation.

"Please _walk away now," _Ozpin begged. Not wanting the information of math and numbers forced into his brain again, Oscar made up an excuse.

"Um, I have to meet with... an old friend soon. It was nice talking to you Mr. Hazel!" Is at said as he bowed slightly. Hazel grew an incredibly small smile and nodded before handing the boy a slip of paper.

"This is my number. Call me if you ever need Ozpin-killing related help," he said. He turned and walked away, people clearing a path for him as he moved slowly down the street.

"_Thank every god," _Ozpin sighed in relief, "_now. Time to go meet that friend."_

"Wait, that wasn't a lie?" Oscar asked as he started letting Ozpin give him directions.

"_Not at all. We need to meet my scout, Qrow. You know? The drunk man," _Ozpin explained. Oscar frowned.

"That sounds like the kind of man my mom told me not to talk to," he said. Ozpin sighed.

"_And yet here you are following the voices in your head," _Ozpin shot back.

"Oh _now _you're the voice in my head and not 'a totally real' person," Oscar grumbled.

_"Damn straight. Now get on that bullhead!"_

* * *

Sun was currently living out one of his dreams.

The sun was high above his head. He sat in a pool tube and sipped from a tropical beverage of sorts. Occasionally he'd get the promiscuous look from a girl (and once a guy) and he sent the same look back (even to the guy, always good to keep your options open). He was without his shirt, having left it on the shore. Every now and then he'd bump a stray beach ball back in somebody's direction. It was paradise.

"SUN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Blake screeched from the sand. He looked over and waved at her.

"I'm enjoying my break!" he yelled back. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and looked up again, glaring at him.

"We're supposed to be investigating!" she whined. He scoffed and splashed water in her direction with his tail. None of it made it since he was easily twenty feet offshore, but the gesture still made her hiss at him.

"What's the pain of a little break? We searched all of yesterday!" he argued back. By this point people had cleared a long and narrow oval for the two to tell at each other and were watching in amusement.

"That's not the point!" she yelled. He shot her an incredulous look.

"What _is _the point? It's not like they're going anywhere! Plus you can just ask any of these people if they know anything!" he said. The surrounding crowds heads all snapped back and forth as the two yelled, as if watching a tennis match.

"We can't just announce it to people! That defeats the purpose of being stealthy!" she shouted, stomping a foot in the sand and hissing when a wave gently passed over her foot.

"Why do we need to be stealthy!? We were literally just asking people on the street yesterday!" he told, stirring his drink a little before taking a sip.

"Just get over here!" she yelled.

"Why don't _you _get over _here_!" he yelled back.

"You know I don't like water!"

"That's just perpetuating a stereotype!"

"Don't use the internalized racism trick on me!"

"Then stop making it so easy!"

People had started recording now. Even the lifeguard was simply watching with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Here! Watch how easy this is!" Sun shouted before spreading his arms out wide and addressing the crowd.

"Anyone here know anything about the White Fang? Anything at all?" he asked. Everyone looked among each other for a moment.

"Their base is on the south side of the city!"

"I'm pretty sure you can just walk in the base! As long as you mind your own business!"

"I heard that Sienna allows you to call and schedule ahead!" the last person was on shore and told Blake the number.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Sun shouted among the crowd. Blake just stared in shock and gave her a triumphant look.

"Now you gotta get in here! I just saved us a day of asking!" he shouted to her. She glared at him.

"No way!" she shouted. He rolled his eyes and paddled back to shore. He slowly walked up to her and grinned down at her.

"What?" she hissed. Without a word of warning, he lifted her bridal style and threw her on top of his tube. She yelped and screamed as she felt the water soak through her pants and touch her feet.

Before she could escape, he dove back into the water and kicked the tube off shore. She glared at him as they swapped places and smiled at her.

"See! Not so bad!" he yelled.

"I'm actually gonna kill you!" she shouted. He laughed and waded over to her. He looked up at her from the water and winked.

"You seriously need to loosen up," he said, now taking at a normal level of volume. Everybody seemed to have enjoyed their quarrel and was now chatting once again.

"For the love of God, get me out of this water," she hissed lowly. He rolled his eyes.

"What's with you and water and dogs and stuff?" he asked. She glared even harder. He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Good. Now pull me back. My ass is wet and I wanna change," she huffed, taking his drink from his hands and taking a sip. She made a face and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is this spiked?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah. Learned that the legal drinking age here is like fourteen so I decided to treat myself," he grinned. She scoffed and splashed him. He immediately had a glint in his eyes and she went pale.

"Wait, no! I didn't mean it—" it was too late as Sun laughed and dove underwater before springing back up and flipping the tube over. She squeaked as she went tumbling into the water.

"You started it," he said as she surfaced and sputtered. She gave him a look of pure hate and poked him in the eyes.

"Ow! Fuck!" he winced as he rubbed his eyes. He opened them and fluttered them a little as he regained his vision.

"Shore. Now," she demanded. He blew a raspberry and got the tube again, hauling her on top and paddling it back to the sand. She stood and shook herself a little before glaring back at him and stomping off. He shook his head.

"She needs to get that stick out her ass," he mumbled. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a few other faunus behind him, one holding a volleyball.

"Hey man, you seem pretty cool. Wanna join us?" one of the girls asked. He shrugged and nodded, following the group back into the water.

He was still going to enjoy his time off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Blake walked home and if ignored her mother and fathers confused looks as she stalked past them. She toweled off quickly and walked back to her parents who were sat around her father's desk. Without a word she picked up the home phone and dialed a number the person had told her.

It rang once, then twice. On the third ring it was picked up and a very familiar voice answered.

"Hello, this is the White Fang, how can I help you?" Ilia said in a bored manner.

"Ilia?" Blake asked. Her parents just watched in amusement.

"Blake!? What the hell are you doing calling this number!? Is this a prank or something?" the other girl growled.

"No. I'm calling to schedule an appointment with Sienna Khan," Blake said bluntly.

"What!? Who told you— nevermind, I don't wanna know. Why the hell do you want an appointment with Sienna?" Ilia asked suspiciously.

"That's none of your business is it _desk girl_?" Blake asked smugly. On the other end, Ilia blushed, both in embarrassment and anger.

"Fuck you. What time," she ground out. Blake smiled slightly and thought for a moment. She hummed.

"Friday at noon," Blake stated. She heard typing and then Ilia replied.

"Fine. Be on time. Don't cause trouble," she said. Before Blake could say anything else the chameleon girl hung up.

"Huh, go figure, you can call," Blake said to herself. Her parents just sighed.

Another day with Blake.

* * *

Roman sighed as he lay back on the couch. They'd been given a large living space on Haven grounds and they had all been making the most of it. He ignored the commotion coming from the other room.

"Neo! You better not use all the hot water!" Yang yelled as she and the shorter girl ran for the shower. Neo had made it in first and shot the girl a smug grin before slamming the door.

"Pyrrha, what's uh... what's all this?" Jaune asked as he and Ren walked into the small kitchen. Nora and Ruby came up behind them and peered past their shoulders to the redhead.

"Oh! I just figured I'd try my hand at cooking! It can't be any harder than fighting right?" she asked. They all observed the kitchen and the absolute carnage that was held within it. There were splatters of ingredients here and there and tools had been taken out and used for things that definitely weren't their intended purposes.

"And... how's that going?" Jaune asked as he turned off a mixer that had been rattling in a bowl.

"Grand! I just finished actually! Take a look!" she said proudly. By this point Yang, the twins, and Mercury had also come to see what the champion had concocted.

She held a bowl out proudly and they all leaned back as the smell hit them. Whatever it was, it was definitely burnt. Alongside that, the color could only be described as sickly. It was a greenish brown and looked like a liquid that had been burnt and scorched on the top layer.

"What... what are we looking at?" Mercury asked in horror as he hid behind the twins at the sight. The girls had their hands over their faces and had taken a step back.

"I don't really know what to call it, I just mixed a bunch of the materials together and cooked them!" she said as she looked back at the stove. It was very on fire. Ren gasped as he ran ahead and took a fire extinguisher off the wall before letting loose on the flames.

"Pyr, we didn't go shopping for food yet. All the cooking stuff we have in the kitchen was like, cornstarch and oils and cooking spray and stuff," Jaune said. She tilted her head to the side.

"Can you not use that?" she asked. He winced and looked back at the others. They all shrugged and looked as lost as him.

"Uh, well I guess you can't _not _eat that stuff but—" he was cut off as he saw the hurt look on her face.

"So you won't try it?" she asked, looking very much like a child who'd just been told they didn't have time to play. Jaune swallowed and grit his teeth.

"_Of course _I'll try it," he said with faux enthusiasm. She smiled immediately again and held it out to him. She brought a spoon over with her semblance and handed it to him. He took it and looked between the bowl of... whatever it was and then back at the others. They all saluted him, Mercury was even crying and saying how much he'd be missed. He took a deep breath and scooped some I to his mouth. It couldn't be that bad—

Oh. No, it was definitely the _worst._

He promptly passed out, eyes rolled back and gurgling noises coming from his throat. They all stared down at him in shock.

"Would you look at that," Melanie said with an incredibly fake proud voice, "he loved it so much he passed out from bliss!"

"I'm so glad he liked it! Would any of you like to try as well?" Pyrrha asked as she looked among them. They all looked as though somebody had just asked if they wanted to willingly be shot in the face.

"You know what? I'll pass. Big breakfast," Mercury claimed, walking away quickly.

"Yeah, Melanie and I were gonna, like, um, go out with Neo when she's out of the shower," Miltia said as she and her sister stepped away.

Ren didn't even say anything as he threw a smoke bomb at his feet, disappearing from sight. Nora laughed nervously and bolted out the door.

Yang and Ruby stood in front of Pyrrha who looked at them expectantly.

"Oh wow," Ruby breathed out as she slowly stepped away, "you know, I'm allergic to... that."

"Yeah and I..." Yang being the last one struggled to find an excuse. Pyrrha just blinked at her and the blonde sighed.

"Pass," she said quickly before throwing herself out the window and running away. Pyrrha stood there confused and looked back to her unconscious boyfriend.

"We at least Jaune liked it! I'll make sure to save it for him!" she said happily.

Back in the main room, Roman and Glynda sat together, talking and sharing a glass of wine. It was nice to do this again after so long on the road.

"Where'd Qrow go?" Roman asked. Glynda shrugged as she sipped from her glass.

"Probably a bar," she said. He laughed shortly and rolled his eyes.

"That sounds accurate," he sighed. She placed her glass on the table before them and leaned on his shoulder. He relaxed and leaned into her as well.

"You know, it's been quite a while since we've had the chance to... loosen up," she breathed into his ear. He shivered but smirked as he leaned into her ear.

"Why don't we go back to our room and change that then?" he asked quietly. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand as she stood. She pulled him up and back to their room. Whatever Qrow was doing, it was probably best he wasn't there to hear them.

* * *

Qrow sat in a bar and sneezed as he felt the overwhelming feeling that somebody was assuming he was getting drunk came over him. It was true, but that didn't make it any less hurtful!

"Um, excuse me," a young voice asked from behind him. He turned and saw a short boy playing with his hands.

"I know Mistral doesn't have the best or most sound laws but I didn't know they let kids drink now too," he mumbled. Oscar looked confused and his eyes darted left and right.

"Er, I'm supposed to ask—"

"I mean seriously! It's already bad enough that all the hunters are out since the attack on Beacon but this? This is just bad form!" Qrow continued, not hearing the boy.

"Um, I'm sorry but I've been told to—"

"And then Leo's acting all weird and there's the underground crime network. The one here is like, four times worse than the criminal underground in Vale!" Qrow rasped as he threw his arms around animatedly, spilling his drink here and there.

"Is he always like this? He is? How am I supposed to ask him for the cane if—"

"And don't even get me started on all the weird porn here!"

Oscars eyes glowed for a moment and he stood differently in an instant.

"Qrow, for the love of God man, give me my cane and shut the hell up," Ozpin demanded. Qrow choked on his drink and sputtered as he cleared his throat.

"Oz?" he asked as he looked over the boy.

"Yes. It's me. Now please give me the damn cane and show this boy to a bed," Ozpin said before his eyes glowed and Oscar was back, shivering and looking around.

"What just happened?" he asked in a scared voice. He got no answer as Qrow whooped and hollered before scooping the boy up and holding him underneath his arms in front of him.

"I did it! I found Ozpin!" Qrow exclaimed. The bartender just shook his head and took the bottle away.

"Technically he found you," Oscar pointed out. Qrow didn't hear him as he ran out the door and back to Haven, carrying the boy the whole time.

"Just you wait! Now they'll _know _I'm not crazy!" he slurred.

"I think you're really overestimating how well this will go over if you just kick the door in and present a young boy to a room of people," Oscar said. Once again he went unheard as Qrow sprinted back to their temporary home.

Oscar sighed. It looked like being kidnapped by older men was just part of his life now.

* * *

Weiss awoke with a start, looking around before realizing nothing was actually happening. She looked out the window and saw the city of Mistral passing by quickly under the ship.

"Oh, you're awake. We land in about ten minutes. Make sure to get moving before people come to unload the ship," the pilot said as he looked back to her. She nodded and stood, stretching and rolling her neck.

"We lucked out. Normally the route I have to take would put us through some pretty risky territory," the man said. She hummed. If she didn't have to fight she wasn't going to complain.

The ship touched down when the pilot said it would. He walked around and opened the back of the craft, ushering her out.

"Okay, you're here now. Get out of here before anyone sees you getting off my ship," he said, shooing her away. She nodded.

"Tha k you," she said. He smiled and shook his head.

"Yeah yeah, don't thank me. I took your money. This was a job. Now go, quick," he said. She turned and hurried out of the hanger. As she exited to the city she looked around and scrunched up her nose.

"This place looks like those bad crime movies Neo and Ruby always made me watch," she mumbled quietly. She walked around and looked for a way up to Haven. She saw it in the form of a bullhead docking bay nearby. Made sense to put all the aircraft space close to each other she supposed.

She took her time walking to the docking area. She had a little more lien on her and that bought her onto the next bullhead to Haven. Alas, only students of the school could ride to and from the academies for free.

She sat and waited once more, quickly growing tired of flying as the bullhead took off and went to Haven. She'd lucked out. Apparently they barely had any ships flying between the school and the city since a lot of the huntsman and huntresses were patrolling if what the pilot said was to be believed.

They landed and she stepped off and glanced around. It was dark now, the sun had set as she had landed in Mistral. She noticed the distinct lack of activity around her.

"I guess the pilot wasn't wrong," she mused to herself. She looked around for any indication that her friends were there already. She saw what looked to be Ruby and Yang's uncle drunkenly, and haphazardly carrying a small boy across the open area and towards a door. He kicked it open, and she barely heard him proclaim something before he slammed the door shut once more.

That was probably the best place to start then.

* * *

Roman leaned against the headboard of the bed, arms behind his head. Glynda had an arm draped over his chest and he leaned over to light a cigar.

"Satisfied?" he asked. She huffed.

"For now. We will pick this up later," she growled as she squeezed his arm. They both laughed and we're about to turn in for the night when they heard the front door burst open followed by shouting.

"I FOUND HIM!" Qrow said, clearly drunk and barely capable of full sentences. They both looked at each other and debated.

"Maybe if we ignore him he'll go to sleep?" Roman tried. Glynda nodded and they both pulled the pillows over their ears.

"EVERYBODY! HEY! HEY EVERYBODY! I FOUND OZ!" he said, hiccuping throughout the proclamation. They both eyed each other before groaning, standing, putting clothes on, and stalking to the main room. The kids were all there as well, and for some reason Jaune looked like he was about to die. He was awake, but he was sweating and pale. Pyrrha didn't even seem to notice.

Weird.

At any rate they glanced at Qrow and then immediately went on alert as they realized he had a young and very confused looking boy held in his arms.

"Goddamnit Qrow! You can't just take kids off the street! People will talk!" Glynda yelled. Qrow blew a raspberry at her and held the child in front of him.

"This ain't a kid! It's Ozpin! Tell 'em Ozzy!" he slurred and dropped the kid unceremoniously onto the floor. He grunted as he landed face first and rubbed his head. He stood and realized everyone was looking at him in what appeared to be concern.

"Please tell me out uncle didn't kidnap you," Yang begged. Oscar scratched his cheek.

"Well he didn't kidnap me per say..." he said quietly. They all groaned and Qrow laughed.

"I did it! I did it!" he cheered. He stumbled over a small patch of carpet and crashed into the large fish tank in the main room. Water cascaded from his entry point and flooded the floor. Nobody even made a move to stop it.

"Is he okay?" Oscar asked, pointing at the now unconscious man, body half inside an aquarium.

"Yeah he's fine," Roman said as he approached the young man, "so who the hell are you, kid?"

Oscar shuffled and pulled Ozpin's cane out from his belt. They all stiffened as they watched him fiddle with it.

"Uh, I guess I'm technically Ozpin?" he said.

Roman went over to Qrow's body and gave him a kick. Qrow jolted and got up, not noticing his soaked form.

"Whazzat?" he mumbled, one eye more closed than the other.

"Why the hell is Ozpin a kid!?" Roman shouted. Qrow snorted and shrugged.

"I dunno!" he said happily, throwing both arms up in joy. Roman kicked him again and he went back to being unconscious.

They all looked back and Oscars eyes glowed for a moment.

"Oh no, please don't tell me this is—"

"Magic, Roman. I'm sure you know of it by this point," Ozpin said, now in control.

"Wow, this day has just been full of surprises," Mercury whispered to Neo. She nodded and pet Chew, who was trying to sniff the new person.

"What's next? Who else is gonna make a surprise visit today!?" Yang asked aloud. There was a polite knock at the door. The blonde huffed and stomped over before tearing the door off its hinges.

"WHAT— Oh, hey Weiss," she said. The heiress had gone ramrod straight in shock at the unexpected greeting.

"WEISS!?" Ruby shouted from her place in the room. She bolted past everyone and tackled the girl, toppling the small suitcase she carried with her.

"You're here! And you're okay! AND I MISSED YOU!" Ruby cried into her partners dress. Weiss smiled and hugged her back.

"I missed you too," she said quietly before her demeanor changed back to normal, "now stop using my clothes as a tissue you dolt!"

Ruby clambored off the girl as she pulled herself up. Weiss entered the house and greeted everyone.

"Damn, that's fifty lien down the drain," Mercury cursed as he slapped the money in Ren's hand. The ninja smiled and pocketed the cash.

"Wait, you bet on my arrival?" Weiss asked. Mercury shook his head.

"No, we bet in who'd arrive first; you or Blake. You couldn't have gotten in a plane crash or something?" the assassin asked. She flipped him off and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"It's good to see you're okay Miss Schnee," Glynda said with a nod of her head. Weiss bowed back and smiled.

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch," she replied. Roman shrugged.

"Okay well that's my capacity for the day. Ozpin-kid you can sleep in Qrow's room since he's currently sleeping on the floor. Ice queen, there's a spare at the end of the hall," Roman said as he turned about-face and walked back to his own room, "don't wake me up before ten!"

Glynda turned to them and did a small curtsy before following the man back. They heard the door slam shut shortly after.

"They're totally boning," Miltia stated into the room. She received a chorus of 'blerghs' and one 'hot' from Nora.

"Welp, that settles that then! We'll talk in the morning!" Ruby said happily, dragging Neo away. Chew barked and trotted after them. Ozpin didn't seem to mind the delay and walked down the hall. Be found the room with several empty bottles and sighed. That was definitely Qrow's room.

"What do we do about the door?" Weiss asked. Pyrrha shrugged and propped the door in front of the opening it remained disconnected and still left enough space for pretty much anyone to come in without actually moving the door.

"Good enough for me!" Melanie said as the rest of them went to their rooms.

On the wet floor, Qrow laughed in his sleep.

"... I did it..." he mumbled with a sloppy smile.

* * *

Salem sat slumped on her throne. It'd been about ten minutes now and she hadn't said a thing.

"Um... my queen?" Watts asked. She slowly turned and looked at him. She said nothing and then slowly turned to stare back up at the ceiling.

"Is she dying?" Emerald whispered. He shrugged and Cinder groaned.

"My queen, what do we do? Shall we move on the spring maiden?" she rasped. Salem hummed.

"I suppose," she mumbled. They all exchanged looks again.

"What do we do?" Watts whisper yelled. Cinder shrugged and Emerald made a face. They were at a total loss.

"Has Leonardo retrieved my prize yet?" Salem asked suddenly. They all jolted and Watts cleared his throat to answer.

"No, my liege," Watts said professionally. She pouted and whined.

The queen of Grimm, sovereign of evil and darkness, pouted and sighed like a little kid.

"Damn," she swore, holding a hand over her face.

"Um, whatever is the issue?" Cinder asked. Salem growled and stamped a foot.

"Those damn toys didn't help! They just reminded me what sex I _could _be having! THEY ONLY MADE ME MORE ANGRY!" she shouted, the tower shaking. Tyrian looked sick at the idea. He lived his goddess, but that... That was an image he didn't need.

"I... apologize?" Watts tried. Her eyes slitted and her tongue whipped like a snakes as she hissed at the man. He screamed and fell out of his chair, hiding behind Cinder for cover. She looked offended at his use of of her as his own personal shield.

"Hazel has confirmed that he is in Mistral my liege. We need only move on the spring maiden and we'll have the maidens powers, Haven, and your... requested individual," Watts explained. The woman slammed a fist down on the armrest of her chair.

"Very well. Cinder, take your underling and go get the spring maiden. Watts and Tyrian you shall remain here and await orders. I have no need of your services at the moment," Salem commanded.

"Are we not going to try and use the White Fang for anything?" Watts asked.

"What would we use them for? They're hardly worth the time," Salem waved him off, "that's why I sent Hazel to Mistral early. We don't need anyone on that island. It's a waste of time."

"Yes my queen," Watts agreed. They all stood and left. Before they exited, Salem called out to Cinder.

"Oh and don't be afraid to ask Hazel for help. He is in the area after all," she said. Cinder slumped but nodded. After that the woman was left alone once more.

"Now what? Think woman, you've been around for generations! How do I make this work?" she mumbled to herself. She brought a mirror over and looked at herself.

"Hmm, maybe I should give myself a makeover. If he likes blondes then perhaps I should see about revitalizing my old looks," she said. She imagined it, her hair down and back to its original color. The dark veins on her face a little less pronounced. She'd keep her eyes the same. They commanded respect.

"Oh yes, perhaps a little reshaping is what I need," she hummed. She called Watts back in.

"Watts! Order some hair dye! I'm going to look three hundred years younger when I'm done!" she shouted. She received a muffled 'wait what?' followed by a sigh and a 'ad you wish' from the man.

She smiled. This would go swimmingly.

* * *

Blake stated the girl in front of her down. The girl glared back in kind.

"Fuck off," Ilia said, sat behind a desk and a monitor with a phone at her side.

"So... field work to desk work huh?" Blake asked with a smirk on her face. Ilia blushed and flipped her off. Sun stepped forward.

"Sup Ilia," he waved. Her demeanor changed in an instant and she smiled lightly at the boy.

"Hey Sun," she greeted in a friendly manner. Blake did a double take.

"Since when did you two become so friendly?" she asked with a small hint of frustration. Ilia sneered at her.

"I've been seeing him for the last two days since you called. He's been at the beach. I go there on my break," Ilia said matter of factly. Blake glowered at him and he put his hands up.

"What? I can't make friends?" he asked. She threw her arms towards the younger girl and glared at him. He just looked confused.

"Is it because she's gay? That's not very progressive of you Blake," he told her off, wagging a finger at her. She hissed ferally and turned back to Ilia. It was the chameleon girls turn to look smug.

"You should give this guy a little more of your time Blake. He's pretty chill," she told. Blake said nothing and walked into the large room that held Sienna Khan and her throne. Sun waved to the girl and she smiled and nodded back as he followed the brooding Blake.

He stared down the long hall and his eyes came upon a beautiful tiger faunus. She had dark skin and stripes that came from behind. Her dark hair flowed off to one side but was otherwise cut short. Her eyes were a light green and her ears were larger than Blake's own faunus ears. She worse a black and white dress white gold accents and had a long red cape draped in her shoulders.

"Hello and welcome to the White Fang, how can I— wait a minute, Belladonna? What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as she turned and saw them. Her voice was strong and sounded naturally commanding.

"Hello Sienna," Blake greeted politely. Sun waved shortly. Sienna rubbed her eyes and looked again. Then she turned to Sun.

"Who the hell is this?" she asked. Blake waved him off and he rolled his eyes.

"That's not important right now. I'm here for a meeting," she said. Sienna groaned.

"_You _scheduled the meeting? Ilia said I wouldn't like who it was but I didn't realize it'd be you of all people," the tigress grumbled, a hand held to her temple.

"I want answers Sienna," Blake demanded. The woman glared her down and Sun took the chance to step in.

"Um, er, what she meant to say was we wanted to ask you some questions," Sun said with a nervous smile. Sienna turned her ire to him and looked him up and down.

"Seriously, who the hell are you?" she asked again. Blake was about to tell him not to answer but Sun had already waltzed up to the woman, hand outstretched.

"Sun! Sun Wukong!" he said as he stopped in front of her. She eyed his hand and, after a moment, placed her own in his gently. He shook it lightly and stepped back. Finally, as though flipping a switch, the woman laughed and smiled at the boy.

"You sure improved since Adam, Belladonna," Sienna said as she looked past Sun. Blake growled and stomped up next to him.

"We're just friends," she said word by word. Sienna rolled her eyes.

"Your loss. You're a little too young for me Sun but I'm sure a boy as nice as you can find himself a lovely island girl around here," she smirked to the blonde. He smiled back and bowed a little.

"Thank you," he sang. Blake gagged and Sienna snickered.

"Enough talk," Blake groaned, "we want to know why you let Adam attack Beacon."

Sienna gave Blake a look that screamed 'are you serious?' and rolled her eyes.

"I didn't," she stated simply. Blake opened her mouth to argue but stopped immediately.

"You... didn't?" she repeated. The tigress nodded and gestured around her to the empty room.

"Taurus went off on his own, did some astronomically stupid shit, got himself killed, and to top it all off, I found out afterwards that he planned to kill me and usurp the Fang for himself," Sienna drawled on, "why do you think all the guards in this room are gone?"

"They weren't that good?" Sun asked. She scoffed but pointed to the boy.

"Not wrong," she smiled briefly before turning serious again, "no. They were some of Adam's fanatics. Ilia helped me pick out the rats. I had my more trusted men handle the rest."

"So... you had no say in what happened at Beacon?" Blake asked. Sienna had a look of mock pride in her face.

"Oh good job Blake! You understand!" she smiled in a painfully sweet way before dropping it and spitting to the side.

"Of course I had nothing to do with Beacon. What kind of message do we send if we say we're against the huntsman? And students at that?" she asked. Blake winced. That was... a fair point.

"Well what now?" Sun asked. Sienna sighed and waved a hand in a circle.

"No idea. I'm down half my men and have _a lot _of people out for my head right now. You're not the first to think I was involved at Beacon, not will you be the last," Sienna groaned. Sun grimaced and looked at Blake. The girl was in thought however. That meant Adam had to be working with that woman that Ruby had fought at the top of Beacon tower. Which meant the White Fang wasn't evil. Which meant everything was okay!

There was a loud bang behind them as the doors to the throne room burst open and a dozen faunus hustled in holding firearms and swords. They cleared a path down the middle as the two brothers from earlier walked down the center.

"Oh for the love of— Fennec! Corsac! What the hell do you want?" Sienna spat. They smiled at her and bowed.

"Sienna Khan, we're simply here to clear up any misunderstandings you may have with our vision for the White Fang," Corsac spoke. The tigress rolled her eyes and slapped her face, dragging the hand down slowly.

"What on Remnant are you talking about? I had you all excommunicated from the White Fang for your despicable ways! What misunderstandings could there possibly be?" she asked, Sun and Blake were already readying themselves for a fight. Fennec stepped up and answered the woman's question.

"The misunderstanding that you were needed in power anymore," he said as he raised his dagger and pointed it at her.

"Fire!" he shouted. The ex-Fang members shouted as they unloaded and charged forward. Sienna scrambled backwards and hid behind her throne as Blake and Sun stood before it and parties bullets where they could.

"Hear us Sienna Khan! We are the New Fang! And we are done with your small time raids! We shall see blood fill the streets!" Corsac chanted.

"You assholes couldn't have waited until Monday, could you!? Just gonna waltz right in and ruin my Friday afternoon!" the tigress complained over the gunfire.

"We gotta get out of here!" Sun shouted back. Sienna nodded and tapped a floor tile behind her throne. After a moment it slid back and revealed a deep hole.

"Shall we?" she asked as they looked back. They nodded and she leapt down, Sun following shortly after and Blake after him.

When they landed, Blake looked around. It was a tunnel that had been dug and extended forward. There seemed to be other tunnels that diverged off the main one.

"Follow me. They can easily follow us down but only I know the way out," she commanded as she started moving. They moved quickly and heard the shouting behind them. Sienna would turn here and there, until eventually they came across a torch on a wall.

"Why a torch? We can all see fine in here," Sun asked. Sienna grabbed the torch and pulled it down, the wall sliding away and revealing a small ledge overlooking a lake. They stepped out and Sienna pulled the torch back up, the door sliding shut again.

"Now how do we get down?" Blake asked. Sienna smirked at her and jumped, crossing her arms and legs and going straight as she landed in the lake a hundred feet below. Sun looked at her and laughed as he too jumped.

"I fucking hate this place," Blake mumbled as she shut her eyes tight and leapt, plummeting into the waters below.

As they all splashed into the lake, they swam to the closest shore. Sienna coughed and twisted her hair to wring out the water.

"First time I had to use that," she coughed more, "glad to see that it didn't kill me."

"You mean you never tested it!?" Blake screeched, kicking water off of herself. The woman shrugged.

"Didn't feel the need to. Didn't know that many of my own men wanted me dead," she replied.

"Fair!" Sun shouted from downshore, having washed ashore further away. He jogged over and wrung out his tail.

"What about Ilia?" he asked. Sienna hummed.

"Hm, I don't know. _What about _Ilia?" she asked, turning to a pile of rocks. The other two looked over and watched as the girls skin changed colors and she stepped forward.

"Those guys almost got me. Good thing none of them can aim," Ilia said as she walked up to them.

"A little warning would have been nice," Blake deadpanned. Ilia scoffed.

"Sorry, I didn't really get much of a chance when they held me at gunpoint and I had to run for my life," the chameleon girl replied.

"Enough. Bicker later, we need to leave the area," Sienna said.

"Where the hell can we hide you on the island though?" Sun asked. The woman put a hand up to her chin and hummed.

"It'd have to be the last place anyone in the Fang would expect," she mused.

"Yeah, but where would that be? It's not like we can ship you to Atlas or something," Sun claimed.

"We don't have to," Ilia stated suddenly, "I have an idea."

"I'm listening," Sienna said. Ilia slowly turned to Blake. Sienna turned as well. Sensing what was going through their heads, Sun looked at her as well. Blake looked confused.

"What?" she asked.

* * *

"Ah... Sienna. How... terrible it is to see you again," Kali winced as she gazed upon the four people coming through their backdoor.

"Hello Kali," Sienna sighed. Ghira walked in holding a tray of tea and promptly dropped it and let it shatter on the floor as he looked at the party.

Ilia looked sheepish and was slightly red. Sun didn't seem to notice the atmosphere or just didn't care. Blake looked like she was seething with rage, and Sienna just looked resigned.

"I must ask a favor of you," the tigress said.

Ghira had a feeling he was going to hate this. No, negative thoughts. Think positively. It couldn't be that bad.

"I need to lay low and live here for a spell," she asked.

Ghira looked to Kali who had the same pale, forlorn look on her face as he did.

It was actually somehow _worse _than he thought it would be.

"And... why is that?" Kali asked, clearly unenthused with the idea.

"Funny story about that..." Sienna laughed as she retold the events of the last six hours.

Ghira denied creating the hole in the wall the next day.

It was hard not to make another one when Sienna was the one bringing it up as she ate breakfast in his living room.

* * *

**And that'll do for now. It didn't make sense to add any more in this chapter.**

**Sienna is that one roommate that doesn't pay rent and eats your cereal without asking.**

**Weiss didn't get abducted by Raven, but worry not, the bandits will make an appearance.**

**Please leave a review as it helps me see what you guys want more of and if you like what I do, consider following and favoriting!**

**Have a wonderful time!**

**Don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Oscar learns who everyone is from Qrow**

"Okay so I guess I can explain who everyone is," Qrow grumbled as he woke up and leaned back against the couch. For clarification, he was laying against the couch as he sat on the floor, having only just woken up from passing out the previous day.

"That... would make sense," Oscar said. Qrow mumbled as he closed his eyes and wondered where to start.

"Well, Ruby and Yang are my nieces. Yang will knock your lights out and Ruby will apologize for her," he stated. Oscar nodded.

"The girl with the white hair is Weiss Schnee. Kind of a big deal. Don't get on her bad side," he warned.

"Is she that bad?" Oscar asked.

"No. Just annoying if she doesn't like you," he clarified. Oscar made an 'oh' with his mouth and nodded again.

"The team with the two redheads and the two dudes is team JNPR. They exist. Don't really talk to them. I know they're all fucking or something," he mumbled. Oscar just looked confused.

"Like, all four of them or...?" Qrow waved a hand.

"No, like, in pairs. I just don't know who's fucking who..." he said as he scratched his chin. He coughed and continued.

"The silver haired brat is Mercury. He's an ass," he continued, "and the twins are... I don't know which ones which actually."

"What are their names?" Oscar asked. Qrow looked confused still.

"Uh, yeah," he replied. Oscar sighed and waved for him to continue.

"The woman with the glasses is Glynda. She can and will tear you in half if you get on her nerves," he said. Oscar gulped and nodded. So far all these people sounded... scary? Extreme was probably a better word.

"And the other two?" he asked. Qrow blinked and looked around for a moment.

"Roman and Neo," he said quickly and succinctly.

"And what's up with them?" Oscar asked. Qrow coughed into his fist.

"ROMAN! WHEN DID YOU STEAL THE _ENTIRE _DESK FROM THE HEADMASTERS OFFICE!?" Glynda shouted from down the hall.

"NEO! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TRYING TO STAB OLD LADIES ON THE STREET!?" Ruby whined from the same direction.

"Ah," Oscar said.

"Ah indeed," Qrow replied.

"_Welcome to your new life," _Ozpin congratulated sarcastically. Oscar sighed. Maybe they weren't that bad.

"AND YOU TOOK HIS WEAPON!?" Glynda howled. Oscar twitched as Ozpin laughed at him from within.

Brothers help him.

"_Believe me when I say; they wouldn't," _Ozpin answered.


	22. Chapter 22

**Here I am once more. I feel like I need a new way to introduce these chapters other than just different ways of saying 'hello' or the like.**

**For those wondering about why it said this chapter went up yesterday, it's because I accidentally hit upload but I meant to upload today, not yesterday. Sorry for the confusion, nothing is wrong!**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE! I go back to school this week so updates will be slower. My apologies.**

**Somebody made a point that this fic is starting to seem more like a crack fic and to that I say; I agree! While yes, there is a story I'm following, I can't disagree and say that things are definitely random.**

**To that end, though, I hope whether you're here for a crack fic or a goofy story, you enjoy! I love writing this and I love seeing your reasoning tions and comments!**

* * *

Blake walked into her family's living room and sat down at the table in the center. She reached forward and poured herself a cup of tea, blowing on it gently before taking a slow sip. She hummed and smiled as she enjoyed the peace and quiet.

"Well good morning to you too," Sienna said from her right. She yelped and jumped, throwing the cup at the womans face.

"AHHH! SHIT THAT STINGS!" Sienna hissed as she clawed at her eyes. Blake let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, right. I forgot you were here," she said as she brushed herself down. Sienna groaned.

"I think there's glass in my hair," the woman seethed. Blake hummed.

"Sorry it whatever," Blake mumbled as she looked up to see Sun run in.

"What happened!? I heard screaming!" he said, weapon ready. Blake waved him off.

"It was nothing."

"Like hell it was!" Sienna shouted. Sun sighed and shook his head.

"We can't just keep her here you know," he said as he stashed his staff away. Blake nodded. She didn't _want _to keep her here forever.

"Well where can we hide her?" Blake asked. Sienna finished wiping her face down and shook her head to rid it of liquid.

The woman had been there for a day now, and they had already seen Fang scouts patrolling the streets. Evidently their plan of hiding with her parents worked. None of the faunus in the Fang thought they'd be stupid enough to hide in the middle of the city.

"Well we can't go back to Vale since it's mostly unprotected right now," Sun said as he pulled out his scroll and looked over a map.

"Atlas is obviously a no-go," Blake said as she walked over and looked on with him. That didn't leave a lot of land to hide. It was a terrible idea to hide her in a village or settlement since they'd have no way to contact her.

"Vacuo or Mistral?" Sun said. Having knowledge of both, he knew they weren't great options but it was all they had. Blake hummed.

"Well, if the Fang planned on attacking again they're most likely to attack Haven. Regardless of that, I have to meet up with my team and Yang finally got a line through to message me. They're there already," she told. Sun nodded and closed his scroll.

"Mistral it is," he said. Sienna didn't look entirely happy about the idea.

"And where pray tell would I hide?" she asked. Blake winced and looked to Sun. He shrugged and she sighed.

"We'll have to figure that out once we get there," she said. Sienna stepped up and looked fairly pissed now.

"You do realize that the Fang will without a doubt follow us to Mistral and just kill me once they find out where I am, don't you?" she said as she stood before them. Sun looked away and Blake tried not to swear. It was true that the Fang would probably just follow the woman. That made things harder.

"I'll get in contact with one of my... friends. I think they'll be able to help," Blake said as she pulled up her scroll and started to call someone. Sienna scoffed and crossed her arms.

"What, am I gonna get some goody-two-shoes hunter to watch over me? You realize that I'm technically a criminal, right?" she asked. Blake shook her head.

"I'm aware. That's why I'm not calling for a hunter," she said, sighing and wincing as the call was answered.

"Torchwick speaking, how can I— oh. It's you," the thief answered as he looked down at his scroll. She sighed.

"Torchwick, we have an issue on our end," she stated without greeting the man. He let out a sharp laugh and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh? And what the hell am I gonna do all the way in Mistral?" he asked. She sighed and pointed the scroll at the woman. His face immediately paled.

"No. No, no, no! I am _not _helping you smuggle a terrorist queen into a foreign kingdom!" he denied as he gazed at the woman. Sienna turned to Blake.

"Your 'friend' doesn't seem too reliable," she said flatly. Blake groaned and brought the scroll back to her face.

"She's on the run from some Fang extremists. If she dies, the Fang becomes a lot more volatile," she reasoned, "they already plan on attacking again. Based on location alone, it's probably Haven."

Roman sighed loudly and dramatically, walking away for a moment. The three faunus waited in silence as they heard muffled shouting. Then the thief came back and looked back at his scroll. He carried it into another room and set it up so that they were facing the rest of their party.

"Hey Blake!" Ruby said with a smile and a wave. Blake smiled very slightly and waved back.

"Okay, now explain to us what's going on. Why do we need her over here?" Roman asked. Blake cleared her throat and explained what had happened the previous day.

* * *

Roman groaned as he leaned back on the couch. The others felt the sentiment as well.

"That's... not as much information as I thought," Ren said. Blake nodded.

"We're as in the dark as she is," Blake said, nodding her head back at Sienna, who scowled.

"So you need her hidden here then?" Qrow asked. Blake nodded. They were all silent while they thought. It was broken when the twins coughed. They all turned to them.

"We did mention our family having a crime ring here, didn't we?" Miltia said, a hand on her hip.

They all looked at each other and Roman sighed before gesturing to them.

"Go ahead and call home then. Looks like we're doing things the old way," said. Melanie whipped out her scroll and hit a few buttons. It dialed. Once, twice, three times. On the fourth Roman rolled his eyes. Then it was picked up.

"Unless the caller ID has changed, this better be _exactly _who I think it is," a woman said on the other end of the scroll. The girls smiled.

"It totally is," Melanie said back. The voice laughed.

"What are you calling about then sweetie," the woman asked. Miltia walked over and stood next to her sister.

"We may or may not be in the kingdom right now," she started, "and we may or may not need to smuggle a notorious person into Mistral and have them hidden and watched."

"Miltia, Melanie, what did I say about asking for favors?" the woman asked. For a moment they all thought they'd have to find another way to get Sienna hidden.

"Oh, sorry mom. Please?" Melanie asked, a sweet smile on her face. The woman humphed.

"There you go. I know I taught you two manners," she said. They all couldn't believe that this supposed underground crime lord was acting like a regular mom!

"Who exactly am I having my men hide?" she asked. The two s looked at each other and played rock, paper, scissors. Miltia lost and swore.

"Um. Like, maaaaaybe Sienna Khan?" she said with a fragile smile. There was a sound that was much akin to somebody dropping their scroll before there was scrambling and it was picked back up.

"Both of you, get your perky little asses down here, _now. _We'll discuss this in person," and then the woman hung up. They both sighed and slouched.

"Well that wasn't a no," Melanie said. They all got up but the twins ushered them back down.

"It's probably better we only take people well versed in... the language of the trade," Miltia said. Roman, Neo, and Mercury all stepped up.

"Looks like we're going on a field trip! Call you back you little nuisance!" Roman said as he grabbed his cane and his school, hanging up before Blake could reply.

"What do the rest of us do?" Ruby asked. Chew hopped off his haunches and stood next to Neo. She let his head and stood with the other criminals in the room.

"I think I can fill that time for you, Miss Rose," Ozpin said as he walked forward. Nobody knew when he took control but he seemed to have things to tell them.

"Yes, and I have some good news regarding a little run in I had with General Ironwood," Weiss added. Ozpin looked happy to hear from his old friend, even if it was through someone else.

"Alright, we'll be back soon! Don't tear the place up without us!" Roman said as he pushed the door to the side, still broken from the other day, and stepped out. As the others followed, he leaned back in quickly.

"If we're not back by the end of the day, follow my scroll!" he said. Glynda nodded and he winked, ducking out the door and joining the team of young ne'er do wells to the bullheads.

"So what should we expect from Juniors in-laws?" Roman asked. The twins looked at each other before nodding and looking back.

"She runs a strict business," Miltia stated.

"And she likes to keep things under her terms," Melanie added. Roman nodded. That was some standard kingpin stuff. Sounded kind of familiar too. He remembered talking to Junior about where the twins were from but he had to make sure...

"Anything else?" he asked. They both hummed and put a finger to their chins.

"Don't bring up dad and she's generally pleasant," Miltia said. He nodded and smiled subtly. _This will be interesting, _he thought to himself. He looked out the window at the sun, already slightly past noon.

As they touched down in the city he looked around. The others stepped out behind him and he allowed the twins to lead. They all slipped between the crowds and alleys, each of them accustomed to the motions after years of experience in the criminal world.

The streets of Mistral weren't the prettiest, or the cleanest, but when things started getting even rattier Roman knew they were in the right place. He'd seen it before, after all.

They walked around, ignoring and avoiding street urchins and beggars that tried propositioning them. As they rounded a corner, somebody called out to them.

"Hey! It's you!" a greasy looking man said. He was pointing at Roman, who looked back at him with a bored expression.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Do we know each other?" he asked. He tapped a foot impatiently. He didn't have time for this!

"You're the assholes who stole my shoes!" he growled. By this point a crowd of other shady looking individuals had started to form. Mercury smirked and slid a foot back ever so slightly, while Neo opened Hush and rested it on her shoulder. The twins just scoffed and stood with hands on their hips.

"Sorry, not ringing any bells," Roman lied with a smile, "now why don't you go back to your dumpster diving?"

"When the boss gets a hold of you you're dead! She don't take kindly to people messing with her own!" he growled as he got into a sloppy grapplers stance.

"Look, whoever your boss is, she can hire an HR manager and get back to me. I'm kinda busy right now," Roman said as he leaned forward and crossed his arms over the top of his cane. He took out a cigar and lit it, blowing the smoke up and eyeing the man through the cloud.

The others in the crowd started to ready themselves for a fight too when Melanie noticed a particular design on some of their clothes.

"Hold the hell up, you all work for Lil' Miss Malachite, don't you?" she asked. They all seemed to laugh and eye their little group.

"Yeah, and we're the baddest gang in Mistral! Nobody fucks with us and gets away with it!" some girl shouted. The others cheered and Miltia scoffed.

"Listen here you stupid fucking greaseballs," she announced, stepping forward, "take us to Miss Malachite and we'll see just how much shit you feel like talking."

The gangsters all laughed more and got closer to the five. Some pulled out small knives and chains.

"Oh yeah? And why would we do that?" one of them asked. The twins shared a look before looking back at Roman. He raised his eyebrows in a nonchalant manner that said 'go on' and they turned back to the crowd.

"Because if you don't, we'll just kill all of you and find her anyways," Melanie claimed. The encroaching crowd stopped and looked at the five criminals. None of them even batted an eye, Neo even yawning as she twirled her umbrella. Chew looked like he was starting to fall asleep.

"You uh... You're bluffing!" somebody called after gathering a little confidence. The others cheered their agreement.

Melanie picked a bottle up off the ground and whipped it to her left without looking. It shattered against a man's nose, breaking it and sending the man sprawling. He didn't get back up, and the only indication he hadn't died was the groan he let out before passing out.

They all looked back to Melanie who was checking her nails. She blew on them before looking back up at the petty mobsters around them.

"Jerry has a family to feed," somebody mumbled.

"They're next," Miltia threatened. The crowd was silent. The all looked at each other before huddling together in a large group and whispering to each other. This went on for about a minute before they all broke and cir led them again.

"We have decided that we will take you to the boss as prisoners and let her decide what to do with you," one of them said as though they actually had a choice. The five just sighed and went along with it.

"As such we'll need to confiscate your weapons—" it was a brick this time that shattered against the speakers face, this time a woman who joined Jerry on the floor and in unconsciousness. Neo whistled silently and looked away.

"Er, what she meant was; just follow us and we'll get you there right away!" another girl said as the crowd moved down the street towards a large bar. Roman laughed as they trailed behind.

"That's one way to win over a crowd," he mused. They all chuckled as they walked through the crowd and stopped in front of the bar doors.

"The boss will just eat you up," the man whose shoes had been stolen sneered to the twins, "your attitude won't pass with her. You two will make for some nice entertainment in the bar!"

The other gangsters seemed to have found their bravado again as they got closer to their boss. The twins just smirked and opened the doors, both of them walking confidently into the center and throwing their arms out in exaggerated poses.

"Mom!" Melanie called.

"We're home!" Miltia announced.

All the gangsters now looked very confused. Roman, Mercury, and Neo all grabbed a table and sat down, content to watch the fireworks.

A slightly heavy-set woman walked out from a back room. She had dark blonde hair that was styled in a bob cut. She had a white and purple dress and a tattoo of a spider on a web on her shoulder. She looked around before her lavender eyes landed on the girls. Her stuff face broke into a warm smile as she hustled forward.

The gangsters all went into shock as their boss, Lil' Miss Malachite, hugged the two girls and kissed them on the temple.

"Oh you girls definitely took after your father," she cooed as she looked over her daughter's, "Hei better have been treating you girls right!"

"Juniors fine mom," Melanie answered as she hugged the woman, "probably less stressed now that we're out of his hair."

"Yeah, we've been traveling with Juniors friend for a few months now," Miltia said as she gestured to Roman who waved from where he was seated off to the side. The woman looked over him and huffed with a smile on her face. It was the smile of someone who was thinking something along the lines of 'you son of a bitch'.

"Roman Torchwick," she drawled as she stepped towards him, "it's been quite some time."

"Quite some time indeed, Molly," he said as he stepped forward to meet her half way. He took her hand and laid a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. Now everyone was in shock, Neo and twins included.

"Wait, you knew out mom!?" Miltia asked. Roman snickered.

"Yeah, I ran into her years back. Before I met Neo. Your parents didn't want you getting mixed up in the family business yet so we never met. And I never really drew the connection," he stated as he frowned. He wasn't normally so unobservant. _Of course _it was the same Malachite's. He didn't really know any others.

"That's how he met Hei too," she added. Hei Xiong was of course Juniors actual name.

"I knew you and Junior went way back but I didn't realize you guys knew each other that long," Melanie mumbled. Roman laughed and shot the two exasperated looks.

"You think your uncle would let you two run all around the world with me if he didn't know me long enough?" he asked. They hummed and shrugged. They hadn't really thought all that much on Juniors acceptance of their choices. They just figured he thought they were old enough to go off on their own.

Neo looked at Roman in confusion. He laughed and shook his head.

"This was about a year, probably less, before we met. I didn't really think about the names or the faces until the twins started describing her to me," he explained. He had genuinely forgotten that he knew the twins mother. To him it had always just been Juniors brother's wife.

"Wait! He said the bosses name!" one of the gangsters yelled. They all started mumbling and the woman rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. The room went silent.

"All of you, get outta here before I smack you seven ways to Sunday!" she yelled. They didn't hesitate as they cleared the bar, leaving only the six of them and Chew.

"Molly, Melanie, and Miltia. Really had a thing for the M's and the L's huh?" Roman asked. Molly shot him a look and he put his hands up. They shared a laugh shortly after.

"And who would these two be?" she gestured to Neo and Mercury. Roman pointed to Mercury.

"Introduce yourself kid," he said. Mercury rolled his eyes but stood and nodded.

"Mercury. Mercury Black," he said. She raised a brow and looked him up and down.

"Like Marcus Black?" she asked. He scowled and she smiled.

"That would be a yes then," she said as sent him a motherly smirk, "don't make that face boy; I won't pry."

"And this," Roman said as he placed a hand on Neo's head, much to the girls chagrin, "is Neo. She's mine."

Neo ducked under his hand and stepped forward, bowing and smiling. Chew stepped up next to her and sat patiently.

"Oh, and this is Chew," Roman said as he pet the dogs head. Chew barked happily as his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you Neo. Chew," she said as she pet the dog as well, "I never took you for the family type, Roman."

"It grows on you," he shrugged. She laughed and looked back at the twins.

"Don't I know it," she laughed. The twins humphed and she laughed more.

"Let's get down to business shall we? What's this I hear about y'all wanting to smuggle an incredibly well known faunus terrorist into Mistral?" she asked. They sat down and started to explain the situation.

By the time they finished, she had a finger pinching the bridge of her nose.

"This is easily the biggest shit show I've ever seen. And I have seen _a lot _of shit shows," Molly said as she looked up at the twins. They had the decency to look a little embarrassed at the request.

"Believe me, when I heard it I wasn't too happy either," Roman said. The woman sighed and tapped a finger on her desk.

"I suppose I can have a place set up, but I'll need to ask a favor," she said. They all nodded and stood. She laughed.

"If only my own gang were that willing to help," she mused.

"Hey, this is the first time I'm being offered a reasonable exchange for something in like a year," Roman claimed, "I'll take the small victories when I can."

"Fair enough," she said as she pulled out a map of Mistral and pointed to a section near them, "right here is an old warehouse. I've been using it as a storage unit for years but recently, and I mean _very _recently, someone moved in and kicked all my men out."

"How many dead?" Mercury asked. She shook her head.

"That's just it. None of them were even all that hurt. They just said that an absolutely giant man came it, spouted some nonsense about honor and strength, and then kicked them out and locked himself inside," she said. Roman hummed. That wasn't the weirdest thing he'd heard.

"So we go and evict the evicted and you set up Sienna Khan with a safehouse?" Mercury asked. She nodded.

"It may not sound like a lot, but I keep a lot of shit in that warehouse, and I can't let someone take it over," Molly said as she rolled the map up again. Having committed the place to memory, Roman tipped his hat.

"We'll be back in a few," he said. She nodded and they all stepped out of the bar and walked to the warehouse.

"So what's the plan?" Mercury said as he cocked his heels. Roman cracked his neck. He went up to the warehouse doors. He pushed them and they budged a little. Locked from the inside.

"Easy. Do things the way we normally would," he claimed. They nodded and Neo placed Chew in front of the door. She put up three fingers and counted down in front of the dog slowly. As the last finger went down, they all covered their ears. Chew reared back and barked, a loud echo wave crashing forward and sending the door flying inwards.

They all swept in and looked around. Roman pointed and they fanned out, looking around the warehouse.

The twins were the ones to find the man who was mentioned. He was massive, and he only barely turned to look at them. His hair was dark brown and tousled, and arms looked like they could crush boulders.

"Uh, hello?" Miltia said. He grumbled. It was deep and gravelly.

"Can you like, beat it? This place isn't yours," Mealnie said. He turned and looked them over.

"Girls, what'd you fin— woah! That guy is _big_!" Roman said as he and the others rounded the corner. The man turned and looked at him. His face finally changed from its stoic expression to one of shocking realization.

"You," he grumbled, pointing at Roman, "you need to come with me."

"Woah woah woah, I don't even know who the hell you are!" Roman said. The man hummed as he stepped closer.

"Hazel. Now come with me. There's somebody who requires your presence," Hazel said as he stood before them. They dropped into a ready stance.

"I'm not going anywhere! The last guy to say something like that was screaming about his 'queen' and then I got abducted by a giant bird!" Roman shouted. Hazel hummed.

"So that's how Tyrian failed so badly," he mused. They all immediately went on alert.

"Wait a minute," Mercury whispered, "if you know his name..."

He didn't get to finish the thought when Roman shot a flare right into the man's chest. He slid back and slowly looked back up at them, chest smoking where he's shot.

"Very well. We shall do this via fair combat," Hazel said as he stomped forward slowly. Roman took a step back.

"He... took that a lot better than I thought," he rasped.

"Should we call for help?" Miltia asked. They didn't get a chance to when Hazel stomped down where they stood. They danced out of the way as his foot shattered the stone floor. They gaped at it and looked back.

"Okay, well, this has been fun," Roman said as he started backing towards the door, the others following, "but I really think we should be going now—"

Where the doors had previously been caved in as Hazel picked up the doors from Chew's bark and hurled them at the archway above. It collapsed, trapping them inside with him.

"Shit," Roman sighed as he and the others spread out and away from Hazel.

So much for an easy job.

* * *

"So James is sending a small scout troop here then?" Ozpin asked as Weiss finished telling them about her interaction with the general.

"It would seem so. They should arrive within the week if he was to be believed," she said. Ozpin hummed.

"I suppose any support is helpful. Though I'd hoped it would be more discreet," he mused.

They all had listened as Ozpin told them about the relics and maidens. The maidens were old news but the relics were new. Apparently one of them lay under each school, and the relic of knowledge was here at Haven.

The issue was that the vault holding the relic required the power of the spring maiden to open it. Which meant that they were really only defending the vault until they found the spring maiden.

"Roman has been gone for quite some time now," Glynda said. She looked down and noted that his scroll had remained in the same spot for a while now. It moved occasionally, but never from the place he was, almost like he was running around a large house or something.

"I'm sure he's fine. He's the most street savvy person we've got," Qrow assured. She hummed. Perhaps he was right. Roman was no fool. He was perfectly capable of—

Suddenly her scroll rang in her hand. She looked down to see it was from Roman. She picked up as the others all looked to her.

"Roman? Is something wrong—"

"BIG GUY! REALLY STRONG! TRAPPED IN WAREHOUSE! HELP!" and then the call hung up. The Disciplinarian was in her hand in an instant, and she was out the door in the next. Qrow nodded to Ozpin and followed, Ozpin staying in place.

"You all, stay with Oz. We'll handle this!" Qrow called as he and Glynda sped off. Ruby looked like she wanted to dash off too but Weiss and Yang stopped her.

"I'm sure uncle Qrow and Goodwitch are enough to help. They'll be fine," Yang said. Ruby whined but nodded. She was right.

Besides, how strong could one guy _really _be?

It wasn't like he had some sort of semblance that made it so he couldn't feel pain. That'd be ridiculous!

* * *

Mercury dodged out of the way as a large fist shot past his head. He danced back as three more punches were shot his way. He jumped and curled up before shooting from his heels and propelling himself over the man.

The twins dashed in and slashed at his back but it hardly had any effect. He spun around and backhanded Melanie, sending her flying into Miltia and launching both of them into a wall.

Neo shattered from above him and locked Hush around his neck, grappling him from behind and holding herself on his back.

"I... have orders, rgh... not to hurt you..." Hazel ground out as he struggled to remove her. He grit his teeth and fell back, Neo gasped as she felt all the air get driven from her body. She let go quickly and Hazel stood, breathing heavily for a moment as he regained his breath.

Roman dashed in and swung down, cracking the man across the knee. Normally this would buckle a person and bring them low.

Hazel just turned and looked at him.

"Ah shit—" he was cut off as the giant grabbed him, hugging him close and trying to keep him still.

"I apologise but I have no choice but to subdue you," Hazel said as Roman's struggling moved him slightly. Roman aimed down and shit, blowing up the ground beneath them and sending Hazel skidding back. He sighed and cracked his neck, righting himself and advancing again.

"Are you serious!?" Roman shouted. He saw Mercury running from behind and narrowed his eyes.

He launched a flare and spun his cane quickly, catching the shot and swing out horizontally. The flare spread out into a wide arc, and caught Hazel in the eyes. The man grunted as he covered them, the flash blinding him slightly.

He was halted as he felt two heels plant down between his shoulder blades. Before he could toss Mercury away the boy shot from both legs, sending Hazel crashing face first into the ground. The giant growled a little as he made to stand, planting his hands on the ground, but the twins intercepted.

They came from both left and right, sliding across the floor and swiping his arms out as he pushed himself up. The result was him falling back down. He scowled. While he was still in fine shape, the cunning and slippery nature of the criminals he was having a hard time dealing with all of them at once.

"I had orders to keep them alive and well," Hazel grunted as the twins and Mercury all jumped on him and held him down, "those orders don't extend to you!"

He suddenly thrashed around, sending the three off of him. Mercury stumbled but stayed standing. He was about to tell the twins to move in again.

Before he could, Hazel buried his fist into his stomach with the force of a truck. He felt spit fly from his mouth as he was lifted off his feet from the force. He dropped to the ground and shook as he held himself up. His vision swam a little and he lurched before throwing up.

Hazel kicked him square in the jaw, breaking his aura and sending him up and back, before he landed unconscious on the ground.

Hazel turned and eyed the twins, who now stood defensively. He grunted and started charging forward, arms in front of him and ready to grab them.

They both jumped away from each other to dodge but he was expecting it. He stomped down and turned suddenly, rearing back and carrying all his momentum into his punch. The strike caught Melanie unaware and she took it in the chest, right above her breasts.

She gasped as she was launched backwards and embedded in one of the concrete walls of the warehouse. Her aura flared one more time before she fell forward in a heap on the ground.

"Melanie!" Miltia called out. Hazel grunted and grabbed her by the throat. She choked out a gasp and kicked and clawed at him, but he held her out of reach and she could only scrape at his forearm.

He grunted again as he felt a solid, dull strike impact the back of his head. He turned slightly, this time his eyes widening as Roman swung his cane down and cracked him in the nose. While he didn't feel the pain, the impact rattled his brain and he saw stars for a moment. The distraction worked for what it was as Neo sliced at his hand, causing him to drop the red twin.

"Thanks..." she gasped out as she coughed. Neo pat her back and the two shattered as they disappeared. Roman leapt back and shot at Hazel's feet, making the man lose his footing.

Hazel attempted to regain his footing but Roman dashed in and swung his cane in a two handed grip, taking out the man's legs, sending him crashing down.

Roman didn't get a chance to capitalize as Hazel lashed out from the ground, sweeping Roman's legs and sending him to the floor as well.

Hazel made to jump on the man but he was kept where he was when Neo shattered down from above and drove Hush down and through his shoulder. He grunted as he felt the blade pierce through his body and into the stone. If he didn't have his semblance he would've been in agony. As it stood, he was simply uncomfortable, though he could tell his aura was dipping quickly and once it was gone he'd be feeling all of this.

He pushed himself up quickly, ignoring the sound of the sword coming with him as he rose. He stood at his full height over the two thieves and they stared up in shock. He towered over them, Hush still lodged in his shoulder and blade visibly protruding from back to front.

"What the hell are you!?" Roman finally screamed. Hazel groaned as he grabbed the blade and pulled it from his shoulder, throwing it down and embedding it in the concrete. Neo gaped as her sword went deep into the earth. That was going to be hard to retrieve.

He stomped forward, intent on knocking them out and nabbing Roman so he could finally leave, when he heard growling.

He didn't have a chance to turn as he felt a massive weight crash into his back, as though somebody had launched a cannon right into his spine. He flew forward and rolled, whatever struck him rolling along with him until they crashed against the far wall of the warehouse.

When he finally regained his bearings he looked up into the ferocious glare of an absolutely giant dog.

"Atta boy Chew! FUCK HIM UP!" Roman cheered. Hazel grunted as he held his hands up and caught the dog as it descended down to bite at his face.

He gasped and his eyes widened as he felt the force the animal was bearing down on him with. The dogs mouth was still open, and he tried clamping it shut but found himself struggling more than he anticipated.

Chew suddenly leaned back, and Hazel, not expecting it, let him. He was confused as the dog took a deep breath.

Then everything went silent. Well not silent, per say. He could hear a loud ringing and his vision was a little spotty. The dog stepped back slightly as he stood. He saw Roman speaking.

The issue was that he didn't _hear _Roman speaking.

"I think he's deaf," Roman mused as he stood defensively with the dog in front of him. Not many people could take a bark that loud so close to their ears without suffering some real damage.

Hazel narrowed his eyes. He was about to move in again when he saw the debris around the door glow purple. He grumbled and closed his eyes. That must've been the reinforcements Roman had called at the start of their fight. He turned and punched the wall down, he didn't look at them as he dashed out the opening and deeper into the city.

"That... that really sucked," Roman groaned. Neo nodded and adjusted herself. She still felt rattled from having the man's full bodyweight crush her.

They turned as they heard the collapsed door to the warehouse creaking. Then it all levitated out and away, the worried looks of Glynda and Qrow peering in. Roman waved and ran up to them.

"You're a little late now but at least I don't have to carry the kids by myself now," he said as they met halfway. Glynda looked around the destroyed warehouse and back to him.

"What the hell happened here?" she asked. He sighed and reached for a cigar. As he pulled out the box he found that they had all been crushed during the altercation. He sighed even deeper.

"It's a long story," he said, "let's walk and talk."

The two huntsman nodded and they each carried an unconscious fighter. Chew allowed Neo to drape herself on his back and he walked unencumbered, happy to help his owner.

"Who assaulted you?" Glynda asked as she carried Miltia with her semblance. Qrow had Melanie bridal style and Roman had Mercury over his shoulder.

"Some guy named Hazel, you know him Qrow? He seems to be working with our resident 'Queen'," Roman said. Qrow swore.

"Yeah I know Hazel. It's a miracle you guys made it out okay," the drunk said. Roman grunted.

"I wouldn't say okay, but definitely better than dead. And walk this way, I gotta let the twins mom know that the warehouse is hers again," Roman grunted as he turned down a street. They stopped outside the bar and Roman walked in.

"Roman? I heard one of your flares go off, what happened—" Molly stopped as she gazed upon the unconscious forms being carried by the three huntsman. Her expression grew firm.

"What in Sam-Hell did you get into over there?" she demanded. Roman smiled and shrugged.

"The usual Torchwick antics," he said. She rolled her eyes.

"So a big fuckin fight?" she answered. He shot her a finger gun and hoisted Mercury onto his shoulder more.

"Bingo. Warehouse is clear though," he replied. She sighed and punched the bridge of her nose.

"I'll have my men set up the place I'm thinking. Keep my daughter's safe or I'll have you shot," she told. He saluted her and turned. Qrow laughed and looked over to him.

"Talk about a weird parent-teacher conference, amiright?" he asked. Roman socked him in the shoulder but the smirk said he found it funny. Glynda just scoffed as they all returned to Haven.

At least they'd be safe there.

* * *

Blake hung up her scroll as the snide voice of Roman told her they had a place. It was well past midnight now. She sighed and walked through her home. She found Sun and told him they were set and he nodded.

She walked into the living room and found her parents and Sienna all awkwardly drinking at the center table.

"Ah, Blake!" her mother exclaimed, clearly happy to have a break from the strange scene, "What did you need?" She asked a little too enthusiastically.

"We have a place to hide her," Blake said pointing at the tigress. Sienna rolled her eyes as she was repeatedly not referred to by name by the girl.

"Oh thank the brothers— I mean, that's very good," Ghira said. He wasn't fooling anyone.

"Now we just need to grab a bullhead and get off the island before the New Fang find—" there was a sudden noise from the front of the house. They all looked around in confusion. Sun ran in and had an urgent look on his face. He pointed to the front.

"You're gonna wanna see this," he claimed. They all snuck over to the front window and their eyes widened in shock at the sight outside.

The New Fang stood on the stairs leading up to the Belladonna residence, holding weapons aloft and chanting.

"That's definitely bad," Sienna stated. The others shot her a look that had her blushing slightly.

"We need to get her out of here now," Ghira said. Blake looked worried.

"But what about you two?" she asked, concern washing over her as she looked between the mob outside and her parents. Kali stepped forward and lay a hand on her shoulder.

"The sooner you get Sienna out of here, the sooner they'll leave us alone. If we have nothing to hide from them, they have no reason to attack," she told, a small worried smile on her face.

"But won't they just attack anyways?" Sun asked. Ghira shook his head.

"If they do, they tell the people of Menagerie and the rest of the world that they stand against peace. They won't make the attempt," he assured. His confidence eased Blake enough for her to take a breather.

"Okay," she said looking up, "Sun, call Ilia and grab your weapon. If we encounter anyone on the way out, we take care of them before they can call for backup."

The blonde nodded and made the call, dashing away to grab his staff from the other room. Blake motioned Sienna to the back. On their way the woman grabbed her chained whip.

"It's been a while since I got my hands dirty," she smirked as she refamiliarized herself with the weapon, "it's a shame this is what's bringing me back to combat."

Sun ran in and stopped behind them. He nodded to Blake and pointed east outside the backdoor.

"Ilia said she'd secure a bullhead at the landing area that way. We need to move now though," he said. Sienna was already out the door, knowing exactly where he was referring to. Blake was about to leave but stopped.

"I need to take care of something first," she said. Sun nodded as he waited outside with the tigress. Blake ran back and found her parents still at the front of the house.

"Mom, dad, I—" ghira cut her off.

"Don't," he said, "save it for when we can finally relax again."

Kali smiled and stepped up to her daughter, hugging her. Ghira stepped over and embraced both of them between his large arms.

"Please be safe," Kali whispered. Blake nodded and took a deep breath.

"Once you're off the property we'll open the door and address this crowd. Make it count," Ghira said. She nodded and shuffled for a moment. He leaned down and nuzzled her ear.

"Keep fighting Blake," he smiled as he held her shoulder. She nodded and grew a determined look. She dashed out the back of the house and caught up with the other two.

"About time," Sienna scoffed. Blake flipped her off and Sun laughed. They leapt atop the roof of a nearby building and stayed out of sight from the streets.

They followed Sienna as she took the lead. They ran and jumped across rooftops for about twenty minutes, changing directions and making their way east.

They leapt from the last building and landed quietly, Sienna pointing to a barren clearing with a large hangar sitting near the water.

"This is the dock. The Fang have used it for years now when they conduct raids," she told them. Sun nodded and scanned the area. He swore.

"They're everywhere," he said quietly. Indeed, New Fang members were walking around, their allegiance evident as they walked around, weapons barred and patrolling the area.

"Seems they expect us to be leaving. First clever thing they've done on their own," she groused. They all searched for an opening. Blake pointed to where the hangers were.

"They aren't guarding the waterfront. We can sneak around the shore," she suggested. They looked a moment longer for a safer way, but found none. They made their way along the outskirts of the airfield and towards the shoreline. Blake scanned around and waved behind her, the three moving quietly and staying low.

They were now crouched behind the small bank leading up to the landing area. Blake stood up and peered above it to look around. She leaned back to Sun.

"The bullheads are all in the hangar. We make it there and Ilia will find us," she said. Sun nodded and they vaulted over the bank, moving quickly to the large building. They entered and looked around. There were three bullheads there.

They looked over each one and noticed that one of them was left open. They moved over cautiously, ready for it to be a trap. As they made it, Blake held her hand out and jumped in first. She went to the cockpit and looked around.

Suddenly, a hand covered her mouth from behind. She was about to lash out but they spoke.

"It's me, it's me," Ilia said quickly. Blake intended and Ilia let go. Blake raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"You were gonna scream," Ilia said with a shrug. Blake humphed and went back to the open door. She ushered the two in and they closed the door quietly.

"Okay, once we start moving, they're gonna know where we are. We're gonna have to take a shortcut to Mistral," Ilia said as she started the ship. It whirred for a moment before it lurched as it started quickly driving out of the hangar.

"Here we go!" Ilia said as she flipped switches and grabbed the control stick, pulling back.

The bullhead hovered into the air suddenly, drawing the attention of the New Fang members. One pulled their scroll out quickly.

"They're leaving by sky Brother Albain!" they shouted. The brothers both growled and said they'd be right over and to prepare a bullhead for chase.

"Are we safe?" Sun asked. There was no pursuit yet and they were already over the open ocean. Sienna checked the radar.

"I see nothing," she said. Blake checked the windows just in case and saw nothing.

"We seem to be safe for now," Blake said. They all still held their breath as they flew. It was quiet for about forty minutes, with no sign of any other ships.

They had taken turns keeping watch on the radar as Ilia flew the ship. Each time they checked there was nothing. Sun swapped places with Blake and he looked over the screen. There were no dots yet so he took a moment to watch the ocean fly by from the front windshield.

"This seems way to easy," he said. Ilia hummed her agreement, focused on flying the ship.

"When did you learn to fly by the way?" he asked. She didn't look at him as she spoke.

"I had to play getaway driver for a few missions. I'm not really that good, but I can do well enough to get us to Mistral," she answered. He nodded. He was about to ask how long she'd think they'd be when he heard a quiet beep from in front of him. He looked down quickly.

"Shit! They're coming up behind us!" he shouted back. Ilia narrowed her eyes and leaned forward on the stick, the bullhead speeding up. Menagerie was a lot closer to Mistral than Atlas, Vale, or Vacuo. If they managed to stay ahead, they'd be in the clear.

"I see them!" Sienna said as she looked out the back. Blake joined her and grit her teeth as she saw the other two bullheads from the hangar in pursuit.

"What do we do? Is there a gun on this thing?" Sun asked.

"You said we needed to get out fast, so I grabbed the ship meant for stealth raids. It's fast, it's small, but it is _not _made for combat," Ilia grunted from the cockpit. Sun winced and joined Blake and Sienna in the hull.

"Do we try shooting from the rear door?" he asked. Blake shook her head.

"We don't have the power or the reach," Blake stated. This was a bad situation for them. They didn't have a way of fighting back when the other ships caught up.

"I have a plan but it's definitely a bad one!" Ilia said from the front. At this point any plan would do them better than getting shot down.

"What are we doing then?" Sun asked. Ilia stuck her tongue out and jerked the ship left, the passengers all stumbling at the sudden turn.

"Ilia you better not get us killed!" Blake shouted. They all looked ahead and their eyes widened.

"THAT DEFINITELY LOOKS LIKE KILLING US!" Blake screamed. Ahead of them was a mass of floating islands that were testing before the mainland of Mistral.

Ilia flew under the floating islands and made sure not to chance getting too close to any of the landforms. The pursuing bullheads had a hard time keeping up, their larger bodies making it difficult to traverse the path.

"We're losing them! Keep it up!" Sun said. Ilia was tense as the islands ahead began closing in on each other. She lowered the craft and went under the islands, the rumbling above them causing all of them to wince.

"They're still behind us!" Sienna said, watching as the larger bullheads went above the islands, scanning for them as they flew.

"Uh, not to make things more tense or anything but," Sun pointed out the window. They all looked and their mother hung open at the sight.

"Goddamnit!" Sienna shouted as a swarm of Lancers began buzzing around the three ships. The good in this was that it was attacking all of them! The bad was that, unlike the other ships, their bullhead had no way to defend itself.

"Ahh!" Sun screamed as a stinger pierced through the hull. He slammed it with his staff, breaking it and the hold the Lancer had on their small ship. Blake took out her weapon as well and aimed out the hole the stinger had created. He shot a few of the giant bugs out of the sky. The Grimm all buzzed angrily and hovered away.

"They're... leaving?" Sienna asked. They were all quiet for a moment.

Then an even louder buzz came from behind. The door was stabbed through and pried open, revealing a queen Lancer. Blake aimed and shot a few times, but the Grimm didn't take notice.

"What do we do!?" Sienna asked as she whipped a few smaller Grimm out of the sky when they flew too close.

Nobody got a chance to answer due to the other two bullheads now lowering and flying directly behind them. The guns on the fronts began whirring.

"THEY'RE GONNA SHOOT US DOWN!" Sun yelled. Ilia did her best to maneuver the field and the Grimm, but there were just too many.

"I have an idea," Sienna said as she stepped forward, "do we care for the lives of those in those two ships?"

"Nope."

"Not particularly."

"Not at all."

"Perfect! Sun, Blake, get over here and pull!" Sienna said as she went to the opened back of the ship and looked out and around. She reared back and shot her chain out. It got embedded in a small floating rock. Sienna heaved back, the other two running up to her and grabbing the chain.

The Rock floated behind them, knocking a few Lancers out of the sky as they turned the large rock into a wrecking ball.

"AND PULL!" the tigress shouted. They yanked back and the whip dislodged from the rock.

Meanwhile in the other bullhead, the Albain brothers screamed.

"TURN YOU DUMBASS!" Corsac shouted.

"I-I can't! There are too many Grimm surrounding us!" the pilot shouted.

"If you don't turn, we're going to cra—" Fennec was cut off as he and the other passengers in the ship flew forward.

And promptly exploded against the rock that had been placed in front of them.

The other bullhead soon followed, and the resulting explosion burned the wings of the Lancers around them, sending the swarm plummeting into the ocean below.

The queen Lancer buzzed loudly, but before it could launch it's stinger, several bullets found their ways through its wings. With the new holes in its fragile wings, the large Grimm hissed as it crashed into surrounding rocks.

"We did it! We're not gonna die!" Sun cheered. The others all sighed in relief as well.

Until the queen Lancer, as though in a final act of 'fuck you', crashed right into the engine of their bullhead, its head shredded and the engine bursting. As a result the ship started falling, the mainland finally coming in. Sadly, it was because they were watching the land become closer and closer as they crashed.

"EVERYONE HANG ON!" Ilia screamed as she braced herself. The others did the same, and then the ship crashed and skittered along the earth, bumping and breaking through trees as it slid.

Finally, the ship stopped, tilted over, and spilled the four out onto the forest floor. They all coughed and groaned as they lay there.

"I... I can't believe we're not dead," Sienna said.

"We're okay? We're okay! WE'RE NOT DEAD!" Sun cheered as he hugged the ground. They heard footsteps and all looked up.

Above them all, a woman in a dark red jacket stared down at them. She wore an array of feathers in her hair and had a long katanaike blade resting on her hip. Most notably, she wore a large white mask resembling that of a Grimm.

"Well, isn't this an interesting surprise," she mused.

"That sounded way more ominous than I'd appreciate—" Sun was cut off as she kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

"Sun—!" Blake soon followed, and Ilia after her. Sienna glared up as the woman stood over her.

"Your shoes are tacky," the tigress spat. The woman growled before kicking her too. She called her men over to bring them back to the camp.

"Do we search the ship Raven?" one asked. She shook her head and leaned down to lift Sienna over her shoulder.

"No. There's nothing in that hunk of metal," Raven answered, turning to walk back to her camp, "besides, this one right here is about to bring in a lot of money."

"An aristocrat?" one asked. She shook her head. Sienna Khan, leader of the White Fang, the terrorist organization that Atlas, and more specifically, General Ironwood or Jaques Schnee would pay top dollar to see behind bars or dead.

"Not an aristocrat," she smirked, "a bounty."

* * *

**Raven you devious bitch.**

**We aren't done with volume five yet! I wanted to take my time here for two reasons.**

**One, I don't want to rush through the show like I have been doing.**

**Two, I don't want to catch up to volume seven until it's done so I'm dragging things out a bit.**

**At any rate, I had a fun time writing this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it! Please remember that every review, favorite, and follow is much appreciated!**

**Please have a wonderful time!**

**And don't you ever, **_**ever, **_**bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Salem tries to get in touch with Hazel**

Hazel stood before the Seer Grimm. It's orb like form floated and swayed slightly. He needed to tell Salem that her... requested individual was in Mistral and prime for capture.

"Hazel? What is it?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow and stared at her.

"What?" she asked. He looked very confused. She waved a hand in front of the Seer and peered into the orb.

"Stop looking at me like that! I'm going through a process!" she demanded. She knew why he was looking at her like that! It made sense now!

It's because she was in the middle of her makeover!

Her hair had been dyed back to its original color, and she'd managed to cover her veins with some makeup. He must not have recognized her with how young she looked!

"I know, I know, I was just as beautiful in the past as I am today," she said, waving a hand down herself.

After all, once her new prize caught a look of _all of this _he'd be eating out of her hands!

"Is there anything else you want Hazel? Or were you just seeing how gorgeous I look?" she said, striking a pose. Oh yeah, she could feel the pants dropping from her throne! He'd be all over her!

But Hazel continued to stare, just as confused, if not more, than he was when he first got in contact with her. She made a face.

"What? What is it?" she asked, now a little nervous. What was wrong with her that someone as stoic and neutral as Hazel would be looking at her in such clear hesitation?

"Is it my dress? Do I need a new one? I suppose black death isn't in style these days..." she mumbled. She looked over herself. No, no! This was awful.

"This dress doesn't compliment my figure at all! I gave birth to four kids and goddamnit I need my hips to look like it!" she growled. She nodded back to Hazel.

"As always Hazel, you prove to be one of my most competent minions. I'll be in touch," and with her new goal to find a dress to make her truly shine, the Seer went dull and she disappeared from the man's sight.

Hazel just tapped the Seer in confusion and scratched his head. He picked at his ears as the dogs bark still rang through his skull, completely deafening him.

"What the hell did she just ask?" he mumbled nervously. He had no idea what she told him! He was almost assuredly dead if he returned to her with nothing.

He looked around. Everything was still ringing.

It'd be really nice if he could hear again.


	23. Chapter 23

***INSERT HUMAN GREETING HERE***

**And welcome back to another chapter! My greeting machine is broken, so that's the best intro we're getting today, I guess. I'll try and have it fixed next chapter!**

**I don't have anything pressing to say so we can jump right in!**

* * *

Roman grunted as he stretched his head to the side to work out a kink in his neck. He had a very stressful night and that vice grips from that Hazel guy had really pulled his muscles. They had only gotten back about half an hour ago and everyone had gathered to check on them.

Glynda walked back into the main room. She'd just finished checking on the three unconscious criminals and had an agitated look across her face.

Roman and Neo had just finished telling the others about what had happened and Ozpin sighed.

"I'm afraid if Hazel is here, then she is already making moves in Mistral," the man-boy mused. Roman shot him a forlorn look.

"And what exactly do they want with me?" the thief asked. Ozpin shrugged. He genuinely had no idea whatsoever as to why Salem would want to kidnap Roman so much. It was beyond him.

The crook groaned and slouched back into the couch, Neo rubbing his shoulder.

"But you got a place for Sienna right?" Yang asked. Neo nodded to her and moved her hands around for a moment. Ren was about to translate but Ruby put a hand over his mouth.

"Wait wait wait! I can do this, I'm getting good!" she insisted. She watched Neo do it again, this time much slower and nodded for a moment.

"She says... that they have a place and... that Blake needs to get her ass over here soon!" she said slowly. Yang smacked Ruby on the back of the head.

"Language," she chided. Ruby pointed to Neo.

"Don't shoot the messenger!" she whined. Neo winked and blew a kiss her way.

"Brats you all are aside," Roman began, drawing a mocking face from all the younger residents of the room, "she's right. Blake needs to hurry the hell up. The sooner she's here the sooner we don't have to deal with the ex-leader of the most notorious terrorist organization on the planet."

They all hummed. Yang pulled out her scroll and put a call through. It immediately went to voicemail.

"She's not picking up," the brawler said, trying again.

"Try in the morning. As for me," Roman trailed off, immediately passing out and falling asleep on the couch. Glynda growled and kicked him in the shin, waking him up immediately.

"Go sleep in your bed you bum!" she commanded. He groaned and mimicked 'yes sir' to her as he trudged off. The others followed.

Yang looked to her scroll again and sighed before stashing it away. Blake was probably fine, she'd just try again tomorrow.

* * *

Blake groaned and rubbed her face and head as she awoke. She squinted a little as the sun hit her eyes, unimpeded by anything. The ground was rough, and digging back, she had several pebbles lodged in her side and cheek. She brushed herself off and looked around.

Oh that's right. They'd been kidnapped last night.

"Urgh," she heard behind her. She turned and saw Sun face down in the dirt and just waking up as well.

"What the hell happened?" he mumbled. She nudged him and he looked up at her. He nodded his head up.

"Sup?" he greeted. She rolled her eyes and helped him up. They looked outside the cage they'd been locked in.

Around them was what looked to be a ramshackle, and hastily put together approximation of a settlement, but with more weapons lying around. She checked to her right and saw another cage, this one holding Ilia and Sienna.

"Ilia. Ilia!" Sun whisper-shouted to the unconscious girl in the cage over. She and Sienna were out cold it seemed and wouldn't be waking up without a little prodding.

"Where the hell are we?" he asked as he turned back to her. Blake shrugged.

"Mistral," a commanding voice said from behind. They both turned and saw the woman who had taken them standing outside the cage, arms crossed and a smirk on her face. That face looked eerily similar, but Blake couldn't place her finger on why...

"Who are you?" Sun asked as he stepped towards the side of the cage she stood on. He would've walked all the way to the bars but she stuck her sword through the cage, stopping him in his tracks.

"That's far enough," she smiled, "and my name is none of your concern."

A girl snickered from behind the woman. She was definitely younger than the woman, and had short dark hair and wore a tan vest. They hadn't noticed her, her presence being secondhand compared to the woman in front of her. The two faunus looked to each other and had a moment of silent communication.

"What are you two doing?" Raven asked, confused by the way their facial features changed but their mouths didn't move. Vernal also looked confused. They soared the bandits a brief glare telling them not to interrupt before they went back to their facial communication.

Finally they nodded and turned back to the woman. The plan was formed, now it was just a matter of playing it up.

"We'd like to leave please," Sun said politely. Raven raised an eyebrow and Vernal just straight up laughed.

"Well how could I not let you go with manners like that?" Raven asked in a sweet tone.

"I dunno, you'd have to be a real bitch not to," he replied.

"Who the hell are you calling a bitch!?" Raven barked, dropping the fake tone immediately. He shrugged.

"You I guess. I'm pretty sure putting us in wooden cages like this is a hate crime," he expounded.

"Wha— I didn't put you in cages because you're _faunus_!" she stomped a foot down. Blake shrugged and gave her a bored look.

"_Sure _you didn't. I'm sure your human prisoners are in similar conditions then?" Blake asked, hands on her hips.

"We don't _have _any human prisoners!" Vernal said from behind her. Raven groaned internally as she felt the flames get lit.

"Oh, OH! So you don't take _humans _prisoner but faunus are free game!" Sun said, throwing his hands in the air. Blake had to suppress a laugh at the normally tame boy making a show of things.

"We don't have any human prisoners because we haven't found any," Raven reiterated. They looked unimpressed, shooting each other looks and doing their silent communication thing again.

"Stop that! You know how rude it is to ignore someone when they're talking to you!?" Raven fumed. Blake shot her an unimpressed look.

"Says the bandit that kidnapped us."

Raven opened her mouth a few times, each time she looked to grow more and more angry than before. Finally she growled and turned to Vernal.

"Vernal, you handle this," she ordered. Vernal looked annoyed.

"Why me? she argued.

"Because I'm about thirty seconds away from stabbing both of them," Raven told.

"Who cares if you stab them!? They're just a couple of fau—" she halted and closed her eyes, breathing in sharply. Raven was rubbing her face and shaking her head.

"OH SO NOW WE'RE _JUST_ A COUPLE OF FAUNUS!?" Sun shouted, waving his arms around and stepping closer. They didn't seem to notice him move.

"No, wait! I-I'm not racist or anything—!"

"Oh sure you're not. After all, I'm positive racial sensitivity is at the top of your skill set," Blake said, arms crossed and hip cocked to the side.

As the four argued, Ilia and Sienna finally began to stir. They looked up and saw the two faunus arguing with the same woman who kidnapped them. Sienna spat and growled.

Ilia placed a hand on her shoulder and pointed. Rather than just making a scene, as the two were known for, it seemed that Blake and Sun actually had a plan.

As they were arguing, Sun had stepped closer and closer to the bars and, by proxy, the door to their cage. The two bandits, too distracted by defending themselves as not racist, didn't even notice his tail slip out the cage slowly.

_He doesn't have a key though, how's he going to open the— _Sienna's thoughts were cut off as she realized that he had no intention of _opening _the door.

Instead, his tail wrapped securely around the latching mechanism and he threw himself back, throwing all of his body weight with him. The force pulled the door open and the two bandits froze as they realized they'd been played.

"Now!" he shouted. They looked up and saw Blake dashing right at them. Caught off guard, but never one to be left surprised for long, Raven slashed out, done with the two and just wanting to be rid of them.

Imagine her surprise when the girl was cut clean in half before vanishing into thin air.

"What!?' Raven shouted. She heard a grunt and turned to see Sun had tackled Vernal to the ground and was now laying into her, clearly well versed in hand to hand combat as he slammed a fist into her temple, knocking her out. Raven was about to intervene when she heard a click and turned around to the cages again.

Blake stood by the open gate of the other cage, Sienna and Ilia both stepping out. Sun stood and dropped into a low stance, ready to fight her if necessary.

She looked around. She was quiet. She didn't even move a hand to her sword.

Then she let out a quiet laugh.

It slowly grew louder, but she cut it off before it got unbearable. She shook her head and grinned at all of them.

"Perhaps there's more use for you than I thought," she claimed as she looked between Sun and Blake.

"Point us in the direction of Mistrals capital and we'll be on our way without a fight," Sienna said, taking the lead as speaker. The other three were happy to let her take the reigns.

"I most certainly will not," Raven smiled still, hands resting on her hips in a relaxed manner.

"Anything that would change your mind?" Sienna bargained, not one to back down easily.

As the two continued their back and forth, neither giving any ground, Blake continued to observe the woman. She swore she looked familiar. Her hair, her face, hell, for some reason even her body reminded her of someone.

The gears in her head turned and turned as she thought. She scanned the woman up and down, wracking her brain for other women she knew. She didn't look like Ruby, she didn't look like the twins or Neo, she _definitely _didn't look like Weiss. Matter of fact, now that she was thinking of her team and _really _looking at her, she looked a lot like—

"Yang!" Blake said in a sudden 'eureka' moment. The woman froze and her smile slipped from her face almost instantly.

"What?" the woman asked sharply. The tone of her voice was tinged with a certain edge of danger.

"I'm sorry, you just remind me of a friend," Blake said, not seeing why that set the woman off.

Raven glared her way for a moment, looking deep into her eyes as if searching for something.

"Hmph. I think you and I are going to have a little talk—" as she finished her sentence, a bandit ran over, he looked worse for wear, and was panting heavily.

"Ch-chief! There are some people here!" he gasped out. Raven sighed and looked down at him.

"Who the hell is important enough for me to care?" she asked. He was about to reply when a plume of smoke shot up from the center of the camp.

Raven narrowed her eyes. A bomb of some kind? No, it didn't make any noise.

"What kind of intruder was this exactly?" she asked.

"I dunno, this crazy bitch just showed up and demanded to see _that,_" the man said, eyeing the group behind Raven. The woman hissed and an angry glare spread across her face.

"Go, tell the others not to let her out of their sight. I'll be there shortly," she commanded. He nodded hurriedly and dashed away.

Raven walked away and peeked around the corner of a hut. The others followed and looked into the clearing in the center of the camp.

"Who the hell is that?" Raven mumbled. She didn't expect a reply.

"Cinder Fall," Blake spat. Raven raised an eyebrow to her.

"And who the hell is that?" she asked.

"The same crazy bitch who took down Beacon tower," Sun continued. Technically, Roman had been the one to blow the tower up, but it was because Cinder was there, so it was really her fault.

"And if she's here for _that_..." Raven trailed off. She swore and looked behind her. Vernal still lay unconscious on the floor. That wasn't good.

If Vernal was out of commission, who would be her fake maiden? She'd need to work on the fly.

"Which of you had the least contact with her?" Raven suddenly spun and looked among the faunus. In terms of who'd actually met her, that would be Sienna, but she was too well known.

"Uh, I worked with her for a little bit under Adam's instructions," Ilia stated. She was a no go then.

"Then you," Raven said, pointing at Blake, "I need you to pose as someone for me."

Blake's expression gave nothing away, but she shook her head with a sigh.

"She knows me," Blake said. Raven growled and punched the wall, shaking the hut a little. The maiden had to be a woman and none of the girls in front of her could stand in her place without being compromised. That really only left one person, but that surely wouldn't work.

Would it?

It was her only chance now.

"Monkey boy, come with me. The rest of you too," Raven said, stalking off towards her tent.

"What are we doing exactly?" Sun asked.

"And why do you need us?" Ilia followed as they entered the woman's abode. Blake leaned over to the girl.

"Go with it for now, we can make a break for it and get to Haven afterwards," she whispered. The girl nodded and they looked around.

Raven went over to a dresser and reached underneath it. She pulled out a very dusty box and blew on it, sending particles flying away.

It appeared to be a... makeup kit? On the side was a gift tag that read "_happy anniversary Rave, Love T._" Raven shook her head. A kind gesture from that doofus but she never used makeup.

"What's that for?" Blake questioned. Raven turned and looked at Sun. She pushed his chest and fell back onto the couch.

"We're gonna make your friend here the prettiest girl in Mistral."

Sun gulped as the four women turned to him. One predatory, one confused, one amused, and one purely disappointed.

"Ah shit," Sun groaned.

* * *

Emerald looked at Cinder from the corner of her eye. The woman waited patiently, unfazed at the camp of men holding them at gunpoint, among other points really. Spears and swords were in the mix as well.

They'd been waiting for about ten minutes now, knowing that the spring maiden was in this camp. They waited and watched the large structure in front of them. Clearly the leader was inside. Perhaps they had run?

Suddenly, a tall figure in a mask stepped out. The bandits around them seemed to relax at their presence. Must be the leader then.

Behind them was perhaps the most stunning woman Emerald had ever seen.

Her hair was long and blonde, it almost looked fake, but she wore a long dress that went from her chest to her ankles. She looked truly pissed off, but still somehow retained an air of elegance to her. She looked strong, muscley even, but that didn't detract from her beauty.

Even Cinder let out an impressed hum.

"To whom do I owe the _pleasure,_" Raven called, making sure to spit pleasure with as much venom as possible.

"Raven Branwen. A pleasure indeed," Cinder soothed from her place. Raven tsked at the use of her name.

"What do you want?" Raven demanded.

"It's not what I want. It's about what _she _wants," Cinder said as she stepped forward slowly. She took four steps before the hiss of steel sounded and Raven's sword was pointed her way.

"That's far enough," she said. Cinder smiled and complied.

"Surely you can see the benefits here. You and your tribe wouldn't have to worry about a single thing if you just comply," Cinder tried, arms out in a way that said 'I _totally _won't try to kill you'.

"And what exactly do you, or rather, what does _she _want from me?" Raven asked.

"The spring maiden," Cinder stated. No beating around the bush then.

"And what makes you think she's here?" the woman asked, sword swing about lazily.

"It's not a matter of thinking. We _know _she's here. We want her," Cinder claimed. There were murmurs among the crowd of bandits.

"And you really believe that I would accept some deal from _her_?" Raven called, still unwavering in her position.

"I stake my life on it," Cinder said with such confidence that Raven smirked under her mask.

"Then perhaps I could consider it," she said. Clearly a lie, but Cinder was in no position to call her on it.

"Perhaps we could see if we're getting what we're paying for then?" Cinder said. Raven humphed. She looked to the girl next to her and nodded.

The beauty stepped forward and did just as h— _she _was instructed to do while preparing.

She closed her eyes and held her arms up. Emerald shivered a little as a wind blew by, and gazed up as the clouds themselves moved overhead. Thunder roared and the clouds settled, a vicious storm overhead now.

The girl lowered her arms and reopened her eyes. She still looked pissed off, but looked back to Raven, who nodded her approval.

"Good enough for you?" Raven asked. Cinder nodded. That was definitely no regular power.

"Perfect. Meet us at Haven soon. We'll need her powers to continue with our plans," Cinder said as she and Emerald turned and left. The bandits all cleared a path as they walked, none willing to block their path.

The blonde girl and Raven stepped back into her tent and were met with the waiting looks of the three faunus women.

"I am never doing that again," Sun grumbled as he tore the wig off and tossed it aside. Blake passed him a cloth and a bucket of warm water as he started scrubbing his face down.

"I thought you made for a perfect woman," Raven smirked. He rolled his eyes and went to change back into his own clothes.

"Now then, I believe this works out well for all of us," Raven stated as she walked around.

"How so?" Sienna asked. Raven humphed.

"I heard you need to be at Haven. Luckily for you, I have a reason to be there now too," she smiled.

"And you're just gonna... help? Just like that?" Blake asked. Forgive her for being skeptical, but this woman did just kidnap them.

"But of course. And luckily for us, I have the perfect way to get there. We can be there by tonight even," Raven smirked as she checked her nails.

In truth, this wasn't out of the kindness of her heart. She didn't forget that Sienna Khan was a wanted figure with a _huge _bounty on her head. The way she saw it though, she could pawn off the tigress to the local mob for a decent haul.

"Well then let's go," Sun said walking back in. Raven tsked and threw her hair back.

"What part about tonight did you not get?" she asked. He shrugged and his tail stretched out.

"So what, we just wait around until night?" he asked.

"You could always go back in the cage," Raven suggested.

"Or the dress," Sienna added. Sun blew a raspberry at both of them.

"I'll call Yang and let her know we're on the way," Blake told as she pulled out her scroll. Raven hissed. She moved to stop her but didn't get to stop the call from going through. Instead, she threw herself over the couch and on the other side.

"Blake?" Yang's voice asked from the other end.

"And Sun!" the boy said loudly from across the room.

"What happened now? Don't tell me somebody died," the brawler asked in a very unconcerned tone compared to her question.

"Nobody's dead. We have our way to Haven secured and we'll be there tonight," Blake informed, watching with a raised eyebrow as Raven glared above the back of the couch, only her eyes and the top of her head visible, eyeing her like a cat would.

Ironic, to say the least.

"Good to hear you guys are okay. Thought we lost you there for a bit," Blake looked away and out of the tent at the bandits outside.

"We managed," Blake said. With that Yang nodded and hung up, Blake heard her call for Ruby as she did.

"Any reason you're so terrified of a phone call?" Sun asked Raven. She glared at him but he didn't seem to get the message. Or he didn't care. Both possibilities.

"Alright well, what about that crazy chick? You just made a deal with her that, need I remind you, involves me as a woman, that I am not, to do something at Haven!" Sun said. Raven growled and stood her ground.

"Don't worry about that. I'd never actually deal with the likes of her," Raven said. Sun shrugged and she rolled her eyes.

"Get out of my sight and don't cause any trouble. Meet back here when the sun goes down and we'll take our leave," she commanded.

With nothing else to do, the four faunus simply milled about for the next few hours. Not like the bandit camp offered much in the way of entertainment.

* * *

Neo walked around the living space. Haven was _so boring. _She needed to make her own fun for the time being. As such, she'd been wandering around the academy grounds.

Mercury and the twins had woken up, and while they all seemed fine, they also looked fairly rattled from their fight with Hazel.

Chew trotted alongside Neo happily, sniffing here and there but generally just happy to be out. He was without his armor right now, Neo saw no reason to make him wear it if they weren't in any trouble.

For the time being, Ozpin, which by the way Neo was still getting over the whole 'now I'm a child' thing, had suggested they wait around Mistral until he or Lionheart could find the spring maiden.

Speaking of Lionheart, she didn't trust the guy to keep a spoonful of ice cream from melting on a frigid winter day. That was to say, the headmaster of Haven did not seem like the kind of guy she wanted to trust with super crazy magical powers.

They had a saying in the crime world: 'If they stutter like they're on crack, you're gonna get stabbed in the back'. Lionheart could barely look them in the eyes let alone get through a complete thought without looking and sounding like a nervous wreck.

That being said, she had no choice but to go along with any plans that were made right now. Ruby, bless her ignorant, innocent soul, trusted the faunus well enough, and that meant that Neo would have to put up with him until she could convince the young reaper otherwise.

Chew suddenly barked and Neo looked in his direction. He had a paw up and was leaning forward, pointing towards a window across the courtyard. Neo followed his line of sight and squinted where he looked.

That was odd. Lionheart looked like he was talking to someone. Last she checked though, everyone was in their quarters when she left. Could it have been a hunter? Didn't he say that all the hunters were on patrol around the kingdom?

Deciding that there was nothing wrong with snooping, she danced her way across the clearing and up a tree beside the window. She motioned for Chew to stay quiet and still and the dog sat and smiled up at her. She giggled silently at his expression before shaking her head, her 'serious business' face taking over.

She looked through the leaves and into the window. She couldn't hear anything so she had to get closer to see who he was talking to. He looked nervous. More nervous than when he talked to Qrow or Ozpin. That was more like the nervousness acquainted with hiding something you're doing. This looked like the kind of nervous that had death looming over it.

Neo looked around. Just a little further and she'd be able to see who he was talking to. She had to step onto a slightly thinner branch but she was light so she had confidence it would hold. She leaned over and her eyes widened. Shortly after, the glare that took over her features rivaled Glynda's signature anger.

The _bitch _was here. And she was talking with Lionheart. She seemed relaxed, as though she knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to her. Emerald stood off to the side, arms crossed and picking apart the man as he spoke.

Neo wasn't dumb. She wanted nothing more than to put a hole through Cinder's other eye. But she couldn't do that alone. Plus Roman said he wanted a few obligatory pinata whacks once they had her captured. Instead, she took out her scroll and started recording. The others needed to see this.

Suddenly she heard a crack. Her eyes widened as she looked down at the branch she stood on. While the vertigo of her situation kicked in, she couldn't help but also feel a little upset. Had she put on weight? Being in a relationship must've added that extra weight that all those tabloids told her about. As the branch snapped, she jumped and landed silently on the ground. Chew barked and stepped back as the branch crashed down in front of him. He sniffed it before trying to pick it up. Neo swatted the air in front of him and he stopped.

She heard the window opening above her and she threw up her semblance. Lionheart leaned out and glanced around.

"Who was there?" Cinder asked from out of sight. Her voice sounded more raspy than the last time Neo had heard her. Looks like Ruby's God mode eyes did quite the number on her.

"I... I can't see anyone. It must be this wind," the man said nervously, looking around again before closing the window.

Neo sighed and ushered Chew to head back. He blew a little air out of the sides of his mouth and started running towards their quarters. She followed, making sure to keep her semblance up in case Cinder sent Emerald to search for them.

Neo pushed the door in and it fell forwards. She didn't bother propping it back against the door as she tapped Chew on the nose twice. He pattered his paws in place before barking three quick times.

As the others came to see what Chew was barking for, Neo whipped out her scroll. Roman came into the entryway and yawned. He looked like he'd just woken up.

"What's up kiddo?" he asked as he scratched his neck. She said nothing and threw her scroll at him. It bounced off his face and he scrambled for a moment before catching it.

"What was that for!?" he groaned. She pointed to the scroll and he looked down. He hit play as the others filtered into the room.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked as she and Yang stepped in. Neo pointed to the thief, whose face was slowly becoming more and more twisted in a snarl.

He finally pressed the device back into Neo's hands and turned to Glynda.

"Grab your weapon, we're paying the headmaster a little visit," he growled as he went back to his room.

"Wait a minute! What the hell is going on Roman?" she asked. She turned to Neo who pointed the scroll her way. After about thirty seconds she had a fierce glare upon her face. She marched the same way as Roman. The two came back a moment later, weapons in hand and clenched hard.

"Uh, wait a sec. What are you two doing?" Qrow asked. He got no reply as the two stomped out the door and towards the main hall. Qrow was about to follow when Yang grabbed his arm and turned him her way. She was holding Neo's scroll and her eyes were red. Neo and Ruby just finished putting Chew's armor on before they rushed out the door.

"What the hell has everyone so bent up—" he stopped and his mouth hung open at the video in front of him. Oscar was hovering over his shoulder and in his tiptoes watching as well. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who is that? Who's the woman in red?" he asked. The others all said nothing as they grabbed their stuff and ran after the other two.

"_Oscar, grab our cane. This one is deeply personal," _Ozpin said from within.

"Why's that? Who was that talking to the headmaster?" Oscar asked back as he started walking after the group.

"_That,_" Ozpin said in a clipped tone, "_would be the woman that killed me last._"

Oscar gulped.

On the long list of things he didn't want to hear, that was definitely near the top.

"Shit," he mumbled.

"_Shit indeed Oscar. Shit indeed,_" Ozpin grumbled.

* * *

Lionheart was sweating as the woman in front of him smiled down at her scroll. As she placed it down, she nodded to Emerald. The girl nodded back and dashed away.

"When Emerald returns it will be with another ally. We also have someone who will be joining us soon," Cinder hummed. He nodded stiffly and gripped the arm of his chair.

How did this become his life?

Oh yeah, they threatened to kill him.

Just as he was about to ask who this other person was, there was a loud noise from somewhere within the academy.

"Was that an explosion?" Cinder asked. He shrugged and turned to the monitors he had. They were connected to the school's security cameras.

"What!?" he shouted, "The entire front of the main hall has been destroyed!"

Cinder glared at the news. He turned a frantic look up to her.

"Y-you have to do something! If they get here they will kill me!" he demanded. She scoffed. As if she was going to risk her neck to save this man. She was about to say as much but she didn't get the chance.

Mostly because the door exploded in and she felt electricity surge through her body.

As Cinder screamed out in pain from the unexpected attack, Lionheart looked to the new hole where his door once was. From the smoke he couldn't make anything out. Then a hook shot out from the smoke and caught him by the collar.

He yelled as he was jettisoned from his chair and towards the new hole. As he soared closer, a figure became clearer.

Then he was looking right into the eyes of a very pissed off looking Roman Torchwick. He would've begged the man to try and talk things out but he didn't get the words out when the thief's fist drove its way into his throat.

"I _knew _this guy was a rat!" Roman shouted as he followed up his punch with a strike from his cane. He cracked the headmaster across the nose before tearing back and kicking him in the chest, winding him and sending him flying back and out the window.

Glynda humphed as she held her concentration on electrocuting Cinder. She didn't want to say she took any pleasure in this, but she _absolutely _would deny the smile on her face as the woman screamed.

That smile went away quickly when the woman threw out her hand in rage, a wave of fire sweeping across the room.

Glynda broke her hold on the electric current and waved her crop in front of her, the flames crashing against a purple barrier.

Cinder hauled herself up and glared at the two standing before them. Especially at _him._

"_You!_" she snarled.

"_Me!_" Roman smirked as he shot a flare at her. She screamed and flew forward, batting the projectile aside and crashing into the man, carrying both of them out the opening and through several walls.

She was about to ignore the man in her grasp when she was shot in the eye. Her aura kept it from blinding her, but it didn't stop the excruciating pain that followed.

"How was that?" Jaune asked as he lowered his gun. Pyrrha cheered and clapped. He learned so fast!

"All of you can burn with him!" Cinder cried as she levitated and the air became heavy with heat.

"Guess she's still mad about the eye thing," Roman groaned as he stood. Neo and Ruby helped him and he thanked the two. Cinder currently faced all of them with the exception of Glynda who came and stood at the ready behind her.

"Step down woman! It'll make the beating hurt a lot less!" Roman demanded. Ruby bumped him with her elbow.

"Ugh, _fine. _Step down _whore, _you're going away for a long time!" he reiterated.

Cinder screamed as she shot forward and grabbed him again. This time he was slightly more prepared and pulled a leg up, driving his boot into her groin as they flew forward. She wheezed and he was dropped roughly, skidding across the ground.

She was on his again in an instant. He didn't make any attempt to attack, instead using Melodic Cudgel to deflect and block strikes. She was cold and calculating, and she didn't leave much room for any return of attacks.

The others were about to move to help when Qrow screamed out in surprise. He flew across the room and crashed into the statue in the main hall, shattering it and revealing a deep hole going down into the academy depths.

"Uncle Qrow—" Ruby was cut off as she was grabbed by the hood. She was turned and came face to face with an absolutely massive man.

This must've been the Hazel she'd heard about.

She yelped as he tossed her aside. Well, toss is generous. A toss to him was more like being shot out of a cannon to anyone else. Thus, Ruby flew right into Pyrrha, who only just barely caught the girl and even then, still was sent back a few meters.

"You should all step down now. And Cinder! Remember that she wants him alive and _well,_" Hazel announced. Glynda hissed at the notion of them capturing him. Neo looked ready to murder as well.

Chew stepped forward and Hazel glared. This wasn't ever something he wanted to do, but it was a necessity by this point.

As the dog and Glynda, shot towards Hazel, Neo dashed towards Cinder and Roman, with Ruby jumping from Pyrrha's arms and following. Qrow pulled himself out of the rubble and had to catch himself before he fell down the now broken elevator. Oscar went over and helped him steady himself.

Hazel grabbed Chew, who bit at the man's face with terrifying ferocity. Hazel grunted, the dogs flailing was awkward to hold due to his size and shape. Not to mention the armor that he wore, and the spikes that dug into his arms whenever he tried to grapple the animal.

He was forced to let go as flurry of icicles rained down towards him. He threw the dog roughly into a nearby wall, cracking it as the dog— no, after seeing it fight that wasn't right— the beast, snarl as it crashed into the stone work.

He threw his arms up and the icicles shattered against his large arms. Glynda used her semblance to restrain him but she grunted when he flexed and pulled his arms apart slowly.

She gasped as he shot his limbs out, breaking her hold on him. That didn't happen very often. His strength was definitely not something to ignore.

He was about to move towards the woman when a hail of gunfire and a few grenades impacted his back. He turned to see the entirety of team JNPR crouched and aiming towards him.

"Fire again!" Jaune commanded. They listened and the four unloaded their magazines into the behemoth. When this wave of ammo was spent, Jaune threw his new gun over his shoulder and tore his sword free. The others followed and dashed towards the man.

As JNPR ran towards Hazel, Weiss and Yang ran to join them but we're halted when Weiss dodged back. Just in time too, as a sickle on a chain flew past her face before retracting. They turned and glared at Emerald, who rolled her eyes at their looks.

"Normally I'm not one for a numerical advantage, but I'm pretty sure I can handle you two," Emerald said, smirking as she spun her sickles in circles nonchalantly.

"Not so fast. Don't think I forgot all the shit talking you used to do," a voice said behind her. She spun quickly and blocked a kick from Mercury. He winked as they stood unmoving, neither willing to give any ground. One glared, the other smirked.

"You two help the others. She and I have a little beef to settle," Mercury said confidently. They nodded and joined the twins as they ran towards Hazel.

"What was it you always said when we worked together? You could kill me whenever you wanted?" Mercury asked, putting a finger to his chin. Emerald scoffed and readied herself.

She didn't normally take fights personally. But this?

She wanted this.

* * *

Lionheart groaned as he pulled himself up. Here he was, sprawled out across the stone ground of Haven's courtyard after being kicked out his own office window. Not to mention the plume of smoke and blasts of fire now coming from the main hall.

The main hall where the elevator to the relic of knowledge was. Another explosion went off.

He sighed. He was probably expected to help with that.

He moved slowly towards the main hall. Surely the others would be fine without him for a little bit. Cinder was the fall maiden! Surely they were no match for her, right?

"ARGH! MY FACE! TORCHWICK I WILL _DESTROY _YOU!"

"PICK A NUMBER AND GET IN LINE WHORE!"

Lionheart pretended not to hear that as he came to the wrecked entryway into Haven. He was about to enter when a dark, red, mystical portal opened in the middle of the room.

And then five people fell out of it. Well, four faunus fell out and one woman stepped through after them.

"Raven!?" Qrow shouted.

"Brother," Raven said back uncaring of the battle she stepped into.

"Brother!?" Emerald asked as she blocked an ace kick from Mercury.

"Mom!?" Yang followed.

"Mom?" Blake reeled back in shock.

"Blake?" Yang added when she saw the girl.

"ENOUGH!" Cinder screamed, turning to the group of confused individuals. While she was distracted Roman swung his cane out and caught her square across the jaw.

"Take that you evil bitch!" Roman said as he ducked out of the way of a fireball.

"Ray, what the hell are you doing here!?" Qrow asked. The fighting around them continued. Ozpin took control and was about to speak when Lionheart tackled him.

"I'm... technically here on business," she said, picking under her nails. Nora screamed as she was launched across the room into Pyrrha. The two redheads tore through the wall and Hazel roared out as he continued his assault on the others.

"The hell does that mean?" Qrow asked, stepping back as Ruby shot at Cinder, clipping the woman in the thigh. She would've screamed if Neo didn't jump on her back and start choking her out.

"Well I suppose it means—" Raven was cut off when Neo was thrown and landed between them. She looked up and waved before jumping back to her feet and dashing back towards Cinder, who was currently struggling to land a hit on Ruby and Roman. A wave of heat exploded off of her body and the two leapt back. Cinder turned to Raven.

"Good. You're here. Where's the spring maiden?" Cinder asked as she kept the reaper and thief back with a wave of fire.

Raven paled and slowly turned to Sun. He shook his head 'no' and she turned back to the other woman.

"She's on her way," Raven said curtly, not willing to look at Cinder in the event that she saw through the lie.

"What do you mean she's on her way!? We need her here now!" Cinder raged. Raven spat to the side.

"Yeah well, she's on her way. I'll go with you for now. Take it or leave it," Raven said. Cinder seethed but took a deep, haggard breath and relaxed a bit.

"Very well. Hazel, Emerald keep them out. Lionheart, you can help too I guess," she said as she and Raven walked towards the elevator.

"Wait what!? Ray, you're working with Salem!?" Qrow asked, teeth bared.

"You wouldn't get it Qrow! This is a necessary evil!" Raven said. She offered no other words as she jumped and fell down the elevator shaft. Cinder smirked at them before she erected a wall of ice, jumping down and following her.

"Raven! Goddamnit!" Qrow slammed a fist against the wall.

Hazel looked fine, and stepped forward, intent on keeping them away from the chamber. They all got ready to run through the man. With just one of him and all of them, how could he deal with all of them at once?

Emerald seemed to think the same, but as she turned to try and help the man a boot struck her face. She growled and turned to Mercury, whose leg was still held where it had been when he kicked her.

"Nuh uh, Em. Your fight's with me," he smirked. She let out a huff of indignation and moved. He jumped and slammed a heel down but it passed right through her and she was gone.

"Come on Em. I know your tricks!" he called as he spun around and caught her blades on his foot.

"Hey," he said with a smug grin and a nod of his head.

She glared and kept on the offensive. Hazel could wait. She _needed _to beat his ass.

Hazel meanwhile was preparing to act as a wall. He would've appreciated a little help but Cinder's vassal was occupied and he had no idea why Lionheart was fighting a little kid.

Hazel blinked. Wasn't that the kid from the train? The one who had apparently been wronged by Ozpin? Why was Lionheart fighting him?

"You don't understand Ozpin! It was this, or all of Mistral! They had my hands tied!" Lionheart shouted. The boy looked unamused and swung his cane.

Wait cane? Kid? Ozpin?

Ozpin.

"OZPIN!" Hazel roared. The others all shook from the shout.

Surely that wasn't good.

Hazel grabbed two pure dust crystals from his pouch and promptly stabbed them deep into his arms.

"Uh, what?" Roman asked. Glynda stood with The Disciplinarian pointed at the man.

He heaved and his expression turned manic. Maybe it was his imagination, but Roman swore his entire body just flexed and got bigger.

Hazle screamed as he ran forward. Team JNPR ran to meet him. He didn't even seem to notice them when he swung his arm out and tossed all four of them aside. They landed in a heap after tearing a hole through the wall.

"Okay, so rock paper scissors for who wants to deal with him, and the winner can go fight Cinder!" Roman said as he turned to the remaining fighters. They all stared him down and he sighed.

"Okay, how about Glynda and I go after Cinder and the rest of you take care of Raging Bull?" Roman said, jerking a thumb back at Ozpin who was now dodging a mix of explosive fists and whatever dust Lionheart could launch at him.

Qrow nodded and dashed in, the twins, Yang, and Weiss following him. Ruby and Neo didn't move though, and Chew stood by Neo's side. Roman groaned.

"Girls, I know you think you have something to prove, but I'd _really _rather you don't try to come with us," he said. They shook their heads.

"But Cinder and Raven are down there! And apparently the spring maiden will be there too! We can't just let you go against all three with just you two!" Ruby said. Neo nodded and waggled a finger in a 'no way' gesture.

"Gee, thanks for the confidence," Roman grumbled. He sighed.

"Fine then, come on you two—" he was cut off by a voice from behind.

"We're going too," Blake said, loading a magazine into Gambol Shroud. Ilia and Sun stood behind her, ready, and Sienna stood behind them, clearly _not _ready but with very little choice unless she wanted to die.

"Wait, what happened to the White Fang you guys said we're coming to attack?" Roman asked. They all looked at each other before shrugging.

"They kinda exploded," Sun said. Glynda could feel the headache forming already.

"I'm not even gonna ask," Roman said as he turned and shot a flare at the wall of ice, shattering it and jumping down the elevator.

The others followed and landed gracefully at the bottom.

They all scrambled out of the way when a fireball shot by.

"Cindy! Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long," Roman said, arms wide. She hissed but didn't move. Behind her was a large, ornate looking door. The cave they stood in seemed to glow in places, and large stalagmites hung above their heads.

"Where is the maiden Branwen! We need backup now!" Cinder demanded. Raven slowly turned to Sun. Sun gulped and stared at the woman with wide eyes.

"Why are you looking at him? Why is he important?" Cinder asked quickly. She looked at Sun. He looked familiar.

"So about that whole... spring maiden thing," Raven said from behind her. Cinder turned slowly and stared in horror at the sight before her.

Raven stood, or rather, Raven_ hovered _in place, her eyes shining and her sword drawn.

"Whoa. I did _not _see that coming," Roman said as he leaned down to Neo. She nodded and watched as Cinder took a deep breath.

Then she started making a noise. It slowly grew louder and louder and Neo realized it was a scream. A very rage filled scream.

She shot towards Raven and the two were immediately locked in a fierce battle of the elements.

"Are we even needed here?" Sienna asked. Ilia shrugged and Blake rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Wait I thought the maiden powers could only be transferred to young women?" Ruby asked.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" Raven screamed as she and Cinder hurled fire and ice at one another.

"You don't scare me! You're not my mom!" Ruby shouted. A bolt of lightning struck where Ruby once stood, had the girl not yelped and jumped back it would have struck her.

"I will say, Raven being the spring maiden isn't the worst thing that could've happened," Glynda said as the storm above them raged on. Rocks had started to fall now and Roman aimed up and shot one that was falling towards them. It shattered and the pieces flew around them.

"Why's that?" he asked as they all stepped to the side, a large boulder landing where they'd been standing. The two maidens crashed through it shortly after, both screaming as they pushed their powers onto one another.

"Well from what I know from Ozpin, Raven lives fairly secluded. If she can evade visuals for so long then it's not like they can keep finding her," Glynda mused. He hummed. That made sense he supposed.

Raven crashed down between all of them, growled, and shot back up in a gust of wind and a blast of fire. She tackled Cinder and threw her through the air and into the vault. The loud metallic clang that rang out sounded as painful as it looked.

"Should we... do something?" Ruby asked. Glynda and Roman watched the two fly around the room, and watched as fire and ice and lighting was thrown around like it meant nothing.

"I don't think there's a whole lot we can do right now Red," Roman said.

_What about your magic trick? _Neo asked. Ruby laughed nervously before sighing.

"Yeah I don't really know how to do that yet," Ruby told defeatedly. Neo patted her head and pushed Chew back a little when a shard of ice impaled itself in the ground where he once sat. He didn't even seem to notice.

"Wonder how the others are doing," Sun asked. All of them against just two _normal _huntsman?

They were probably fine.

* * *

Qrow screamed as Hazel flailed him around, using him as a weapon and a shield at the same time. Nora shot a grenade towards him and Hazel swung the man by his ankles, smacking the grenade out of the air with Qrow's face.

"CAN YOU STOP SHOOTING AT HIM!" he begged, as Hazel roared and threw his arm, and by proxy Qrow, in a wide horizontal arc. Jaune threw his shield up and Qrow crashed painfully into it.

"Please just let me die!" Qrow sobbed as the stars in his vision flashed violently.

"Don't worry uncle! I'll get you down!" Yang said as she shot forward. She reared a fist back and launched a shot off once she was in range.

The fist shot forward directly into Hazel's stomach. She blinked. He hadn't even moved. And now he was looking down at her.

"Aw shit," she swore as he threw her uncle into her and sent them both flying. She yelped as they crashed into and through a column. The room shuddered as Hazel swung at Ozpin.

Feasibly, there was no safe way to go about this fight. Had Hazel not been in an Ozpin-induced rage then maybe they would've had an easier time getting close.

As it stood, anyone who got within swinging distance was in the danger zone.

Hazel roared as he swung both fists down, demolishing the floor and sending cracks around the point of impact. Emerald and Mercury stumbled for a moment from where they fought across the room.

Ozpin leapt back to catch his breath. Oscars body wasn't used to the amount of strain he was putting on it and he had a feeling that he'd damage the boys body beyond repair at this rate.

His moment of reprieve was cut short as he spun his cane and blocked a shot from Lionheart, who had him, and by extension Oscar, in his sights. Ozpin dodged two more times, and then leapt to the side as Hazel charged past.

Lionheart was about to fire upon Ozpin again when he was tackled by the twins, causing his shot to miss and collapse another column.

"Get off of me!" he shouted as he kicked at both of them. They backed up for a moment before moving back in, slashing and kicking at the man in tandem.

He backed up as they advanced, and he took aim to shoot when a wall of ice sprouted before him. He turned and saw Weiss, who had her rapier poised between his eyes.

"Er... I surrender?" he laughed nervously, putting his hands up. Weiss rolled her eyes. Truly an astonishing display from the headmaster of Haven.

An explosion caught everyone's attention, a bout of fire shooting up through the floor. As quickly as it came forth it dispersed. Roman and the others quickly launched out of the new hole, Glynda coming up last after throwing everyone with her semblance.

"Did you guys stop them?" Qrow coughed as he limped on Yang.

"Uh, define stop," Roman stated, another hole erupting, this time the two maidens flying out, giant swords of fire and ice in hand, dueling and clashing in the air.

"Is... Is that Raven?" Qrow gaped. Ozpin looked shocked too, but his shock was short-lived when a fist connected with his face and he went flying away, skipping across the floor before skidding to a stop.

"So what do we do about them? Don't we need the maiden powers or something?" Roman asked as he ducked out of the way of a fireball.

That did make things harder. Raven didn't like Salem, but she certainly didn't like Ozpin either. To what degree Qrow couldn't say, but the point remained that the woman probably wasn't going to just let them get the relic for nothing.

"Well we can't focus on them with our big friend here wrecking the place," Roman jerked a thumb towards Hazel who was currently tossing the twins around like they were dodgeballs. Hazel seemed to finally catch himself, turning and seeing the fight Cinder was locked in.

"Cinder!" he called. She flew back and eyed the man. The look on his face said it was time to go. She growled. She had no relic, no spring maiden, Ozpin was still alive, and she had no dead— er,_ retrieved— _Roman, and now she had to go back and face Salem?

She needed something to show for this.

She raised her hands and a tornado flew forth. The already wrecked room shook as the ceiling began collapsing.

"Glyn!" Roman shouted. She nodded and threw her arms out, a wave of energy flying from her and keeping the room together. She shook as she concentrated.

"Everyone! Move!" Roman commanded. They all ran, Ruby and Neo helping the twins while Roman lifted the weakened Ozpin over his shoulder and pushed Yang and Qrow with his free arm.

Raven humphed and flew down into the elevator. With the woman gone, Glynda stopped keeping the room together and pushed Cinder back. Ozpin saw this and tapped Roman to get his attention.

"What is it Oz!? We don't really have the time!" the thief shouted. Ozpin had to think about how he'd get the man to do this for him.

"You fancy yourself the best thief in all the lands?" he asked calmly. Roman stopped, Qrow and Yang flew out the door when he stopped pushing. He put Ozpin down and stared.

"Why?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes. Ozpin smirked internally. Worked like a charm.

"I need you to steal something from the big door down there," he said. Roman looked at the entrance of the elevator. He watched as Glynda and Cinder hurled attacks at each other, and while the maidens powers proved a boom to Cinder, her state after fighting Raven was less than stellar.

"You don't even have the ability to pay me for this ya know," Roman groaned as he threw Ozpin out the door and ran back towards the elevator shaft. He ducked under a clash of fire, the two women not letting up as he ran by.

Mercury backed off from Emerald and nodded towards the two women.

"You gonna go help mommy?" he teased. She hissed and shit at him. He blocked but when he lowered his leg the girl was already running towards Glynda. Hazle approached her from the other side.

He dashed after her and leapt, planting his feet in her back and launching two shots off, sending her flying into Hazel. The man caught her easily but now had one arm down as he held her.

"Mr. Black. We should go," she said simply. He nodded and ran. She threw a wave of purple energy out that staggered cinder and Hazel before gliding out the room. The ceiling finally fell, Hazel running and crashing through the wall. Cinder growled and flew towards the opening, but was stuck when the walls fell towards her.

Seeing no there way out, she aimed herself down and burned a hole in the floor. She launched herself through the hole and back into the basement.

When she arrived it was to see something that made her blood boil all over again.

"So... I can just have this?" Roman asked as he inspected the glowing object. Raven stood, clearly unhappy but not moving to stop him.

"It would only bring trouble. Anything Ozpin wants always does," she said, arms crossed. Roman sighed.

"Ain't that the truth," he mumbled. He was about to ask her how to get out of the collapsed basement when he heard what sounded like a missile getting louder and louder.

Instincts ran wild and he ducked, the form of Cinder Fall flying overhead and through the opened vault.

"Quick! Lock her in there or something!" Roman shouted. Raven humphed and stepped away from the door, the large structure starting to seal shut. Cinder shot forward and out the door, stopping right in front of Roman.

"Well that's just unfortunate—" he was cut off when she shot him point-blank with a stream of fire. He flew back until he crashed into the stone of the cave. Having been stuck in a fight with the woman before, his aura was already somewhat low.

This time is fizzled out and he struggled to stay conscious. He opted for sitting against the wall as he nursed the burns on his body.

"That's my time," Raven stated, cutting a portal open and barely sparing a glance back as she stepped through. Qrow was right. She was a bitch!

Cinder sauntered up to him. She stared down at him and he stared up at her. He had the lamp sitting on his lap and he had a hand hooked through it.

"So," he coughed, "how ya doin?"

She glared and kicked him in the temple. Everything went black after that.

* * *

Glynda paced back and forth, the main hall of Haven completely destroyed and collapsed. She had seen hazle and Emerald escape and was fairly certain Lionheart was crushed under the rubble.

Served him right.

But there was still no sign of Roman. And more worryingly, no sign of Cinder. Neo was sitting down, Chew nestled into her side as they waited for the man to 'pull a Roman' as they called it and walked out okay.

As five minutes became thirty, and thirty became an hour, it was increasingly apparent that he wasn't going to pull a Roman.

By this point the Haven guard had showed up, questioning everyone on what happened. At first they were skeptical, but when Qrow took them to Lionheart's office and they found the files of all the dead hunters he'd sent out, they were quick to change their minds.

It also helped that the small battalion that James had told Weiss about arrived as well. With the Atlas military there, however feared they still were for the Vale incident, it legitimized the whole situation.

"I'm sure he's okay Neo!" Glynda heard Ruby trying to comfort the girl. Chew whined as he licked her face. She still sat and stared intently at the wrecked building.

Glynda sighed. This wasn't good. She had half a mind to slap Ozpin out of that boy's body, but he'd relinquished his hold and Oscar was currently dealing with the exhaustion that Ozpin had left him with.

Typical Ozpin. Leaving his annoying work to others.

Suddenly, a portal opened up behind Yang. She glared and turned slowly, watching as Raven stepped out.

"Daughter," Raven sighed.

"Raven," Yang glared. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Where is Roman? We saw you go into the basement and we know you were with him," Yang demanded. Raven tsked but didn't deny her an answer.

"Your little megalomaniac friend took him. The relic too," she said with no remorse.

"WHAT!?" Glynda screamed. Neo was right next to her, the snarl on her face was more aggressive than Chew's.

"Consider it a blessing I decided to tell you. I could've just let you all assume he was dead," she stated. She didn't even notice when Glynda had gotten closer, but she absolutely noticed when Glynda punched her in the face.

For a woman who relied primarily on range and her semblance, she had a pretty mean right hook.

Raven held back a wheeze when Neo punched her in the stomach. For a girl that small she had quite the arm as well.

"Get out of here," Yang glared. Raven growled but left. She'd done what she came to do. So much for being generous. She actually came back to try and get Sienna, but with so many people around that was clearly not happening. She growled as she stepped through the portal and out of Haven.

Glynda was tapping her foot nervously. Salem had Roman. And the relic. Both of those things were bad. Very bad.

She gasped quietly when she felt a pressure at her side. She looked down to see Neo pressed into her, hugging her midsection. Due to the large height difference between them, it was a little awkward, but Glynda didn't comment as she placed an arm around the girl.

"Don't worry Neo. We'll get him back," Ruby comforted as she hugged the girl. Chew didn't really know what was going on, but joined in the hug anyways.

"But what the hell did they want with Roman?" Qrow asked. The others looked confused too.

"I'd say ask Ozpin but it looks like we don't have the privilege," Mercury said, nodding his head down to the floor where a writhing Oscar lay.

"Not to detail the conversation or anything," Blake started, "but where am I sending her?"

She was pointing to Sienna, who rolled her eyes at the lack of respect the girl had.

"You all can come with us. We'll get things set up," Melanie said, waving her hand towards Sienna. The woman sighed and rolled her eyes, but nodded and followed the two towards the bullheads.

"So now what?" Sun asked. Blake shot him a look.

"How about you find your team?" she asked. He froze in place before a look of realization washed over his face.

"OH SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THEM!" he lamented. The others chuckled. While they had lost track of Roman at least they had a laugh.

"I think that it'd be best if we split up," Qrow suggested. They all looked to him.

"How so?" Glynda asked. The man motioned towards the wrecked hall.

"Well, we can't just let them have the relic, the fall maiden, _and _Roman. So why don't we split up and get them?" he explained.

Glynda hummed. As far as they knew, Salem had her base out in the Grimmlands. It would be dangerous, but not impossible now that they had access to bullheads. Glynda hummed at the thought.

Plus she would be damned if she let Roman suffer whatever they had planned for him there. She shivered at the thought, but it made her all the more resolute.

"I'll go and find Roman, retrieve the relic, and escape with both," she assured. Qrow nodded. Neo stomped a foot down next to her and Glynda nodded. Ruby seemed unhappy at the prospect of Neo going to the second most ravenous part of the world, Vacuo existed after all, without her.

"What!? Neo! What if you—" Neo held a hand up and shook her head. Ruby threw her hands around and Neo responded in kind. After one particular gesture, Ruby flinched back.

"Hey! That was one time!" she argued. Neo Rose an eyebrow and the younger girl sighed.

"Just... Please come back? And kick ass too!" she asked. Qrow and Yang both shouted language but she ignored them.

Neo nodded and Chew stood beside her, feeling her anticipation.

"Very well. Where shall we meet you all?" Glynda asked. Qrow hummed and looked at the unconscious Oscar. He grimaced. That meant Ozpin was out of commission for the time being and he couldn't ask where they were going next.

As the drunk contemplated their next move, a pair of the Atlas scouts came over. The other four scouts were talking to the Mistral guards a ways away.

"You two are hunters right?" One of them asked. Qrow nodded.

"Would one of you be Mr. Branwen?" the other soldier asked. Once again Qrow threw out his affirmative. The man nodded and turned directly to Qrow.

"Very well. General Ironwood has requested your presence in Atlas," the man told.

"What's he want with me?" Qrow scratched at his jaw.

"I'm not privy to such information. The general simply asks for you to be there in the coming months," he said.

"Coming months?" Yang asked, not looking happy at the man's words.

"We would transport you ourselves but for legal reasons you will have to secure a route through the nearest Atlas-to-Mistral port," the soldier explained.

"And where would that be?" Ruby asked, anxious to get moving.

"The nearest connecting city would be—"

"Argus."

They all turned to see Pyrrha smiling fondly.

"That would be my home," she clarified. Ruby let her mouth form an 'o' as the troops nodded and left.

_So it looks like we'll meet you in Atlas, _Neo's scroll confirmed as she stood beside Glynda and stared at the rest of their group.

"You better! Or we'll go to the Grimmlands ourselves and tear the place apart!" Nora shouted. Neo rolled her eyes but smirked and nodded. Like hell they'd die out there.

Glynda hummed and stepped away.

"I will secure us a bullhead. The rest of you should take the Argus Limited from here. You should be there in no time," the woman told as she continued walking away.

Neo turned back to Ruby and winked. The girl blushed but smiled, stepping forward and pecking the shorter girl on the cheek.

"Don't do anything stupid," Ruby mumbled. Neo waved her off.

_I'm not your sister—_

"Fuck is _that _supposed to mean!?"

— _I'll be okay, _Neo assured. Ruby nodded and with another embrace, the two parted. Neo ran to catch up with Glynda, Chew barking as he ran behind her.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Blake stated as she watched the girl run off, "but I hope Torchwick's okay."

"Going soft Blakey?" Yang asked. She received a punch in the arm as a response.

As unusual as it was, the others couldn't help but agree. What on Remnant were they doing to Roman?

* * *

_The Grimmlands, one day later_

Roman groaned and rubbed his eyes. His head felt like shit, his body felt like shit, his memory felt like shit, and to top it all off, he couldn't see!

It was like his twenty first birthday all over again. Only he knew for a fact he hadn't gone out and tried to make out with an ursa.

Ah, the simplicity of life in Vacuo.

"-he awake?"

What was that?

"-don't know...- check now..."

Who was that? And did they mean him? Who was near him while he was out cold? Cinder? It definitely didn't sound like it.

"... I'll do it..."

That person sounded... excited? Why were they excited to check on him? He wasn't about to wake up to someone frisking him was he?

He suddenly felt a gentle touch on his cheek. So sudden and unexpected was this feeling, he didn't even realize he had made a sound.

"What the bloody fuck?"

Okay, so maybe he'd said a complete thought but the point was that he had notified that he was awake.

"Wake up now Mr. Torchwick. We have much to discuss," he heard a rather... chilling voice ask him. It was like hearing someone who only knew how to sound terrifying try to talk like a romantic lover. Actually, it sounded a lot like someone trying to talk like Cinder.

"Uh, if I open my eyes will I hate what I see?" he asked.

He heard a gentle laugh. At least, what was supposed to be gentle. It didn't sound like this woman had laughed in a very long time. It came out more like someone reading the stage directions to a play.

"I guarantee you'll love it," she said. He sighed. If this was how he'd die, he'd do it on his terms. Go in confidently, go out confidently.

He cracked his eyes open and was surprised that it wasn't that bright. Clearly he was inside, and on top of that, the interior of wherever he was currently being held was mostly black.

Then he gazed up.

Right into a pair of tits that rivaled Glynda's.

"Huh?" he oh so eloquently asked.

"Welcome to your new home!" the woman greeted. She looked... fairly normal actually. Blonde hair, pale skin that looked rather heavily coated in make-up, and a long black dress that looked as though a spider had seen it. She cut quite the figure, though he'd never say that in fear of Glynda killing him faster than this person would. Nothing really seemed too off about this person... Ah. There it was.

The eyes.

Beady, slit, deep crimson eyes. It was... unsettling to say the least.

And did she say new home?

"And... you would be?" he rasped. His throat was dry after being unconscious. She seemed to notice.

"I am Salem," she greeted, "and Watts! Get water for our guest!"

He briefly heard someone mutter something about being reduced from a scientist, to a wedding planner, to a waiter. Also, did she say Salem.

"You're uh... you're Salem?" he said slowly. She smiled and reached out. Was she about to reach into his chest and rip out his heart?

She placed her hand on his face again and hummed, smiling and observing his entirety.

"You know of me?" she asked, seemingly excited and happy at his words. Watts came in with a bucket of cold water, a bottle of unmarked, probably stolen, alcohol sat within.

"I've heard bits and pieces," Roman muttered. She tittered and her eyes narrowed in joy.

"All good I hope?" she asked. He looked past her at the man, Watts he thought he'd heard.

The man shook his head and swiped his hand across his neck a few times. Roman looked back at the woman. He took a deep breath, threw on his best Roman Torchwick smile, and activated his semblance at full capacity.

"Only the best," he smirked. She seemed to practically melt in place. He looked back to Watts who looked like he was about to throw up. That worked. He dropped his semblance. No matter how unlucky he'd be now, it really wouldn't matter since he was probably about to die anyways.

"Watts! You hear his voice? Bring that here already!" she demanded of the man. He groaned but stepped forward. A drink actually sounded alright. Granted, it was probably poisoned but that still sounded better than letting the woman in front of him melt his eyeballs or whatever she did.

"You don't look how I thought you would," Roman said tentatively. She laughed again, sending shivers down his spine.

"And what did you expect?" she asked soothingly. Roman opened his mouth to answer but didn't get the chance.

At that moment, Watts stepped forward, but by some freak amount of bad luck, a small nevermore flew in the room, directly into the man's face, causing him to trip and toss the bucket of cold water towards Roman. Roman put his arm up to cover himself and heard the bucket crash into something.

He wasn't wet though. He lowered his arm and looked up at the woman still standing over him. His mouth dropped as he watched the woman shake in rage as she turned to Watts.

The make-up slowly washed away, but instead of revealing blemished skin, revealed white skin, and angry black veins.

Her hair lost its color as she radiated an energy unknown to the thief, and it went from a light blonde to a haunting white.

Her eyes radiated with ancient magic, and her teeth barred at Watts. The man, to his credit, didn't pass out or die of a heart attack, instead pointing back towards Roman.

Salem whipped around as if to unleash her rage on the crook, when she caught her reflection in the bucket. She looked at Roman, who was staring right into her glowing, hate filled eyes. Her hair was down, no longer tied in her usual bun, and her face, her real face, was exposed.

"That looks a lot more like what I pictured," he said in a high pitch.

"Wait, this isn't what it looks like! I just want you to love me!" she frantically tried to salvage the situation.

That evidently was the wrong thing to say as Roman promptly passed out after she uttered the words 'love me'.

She stared down at his still body and said nothing. Watts slowly stepped out of the room. He bumped into the others who were all hiding around the corner.

"So how'd it go?" Emerald asked.

Salem's piercing scream and the explosion of light and magic that burst from the door of the room was their answer.

"Not well I take it?" Hazel mused.

No. Not well at all.

* * *

**And I think that'll do for this chapter. Poor Roman. Can't you see the opportunity that sits in front of you!?**

**Total. Milf. Material.**

**Just saying.**

**Anyways, I thank you all for waiting. School takes up my time and sleep takes up the rest of my time. That and I didn't know when to end this chapter, so it took some time.**

**Please leave a review! I love them all oh so dearly! And if you like the story, follows and favorites are appreciated as well!**

**In the meantime, please have a wonderful time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Salem practices seduction**

She had gotten word that Cinder had retrieved the relic of knowledge, but that the spring maiden had slipped through their fingers and was likely to never show herself again.

But that didn't matter right now. She had captured her husband to be. Right now, she had to make sure she was the sexiest being on the planet for her special guest.

She stared into her mirror as she looked over herself in yet another outfit. This one made her hips look nice but didn't accentuate her shoulders the way she wanted.

The next one did the opposite. She growled. Maybe she'd just go with her normal dress. It made her look like a goddamn queen.

She looked in the mirror. The hair dye and make-up wouldn't be permanent, unfortunately she found that using her magic evaporated both of them. But she'd make a good enough first impression that he'd have no choice but to love her anyways!

Now to practice how she'd talk to him.

"Okay, how did Ozma like this again...?" she mumbled, trying to remember how men liked their sweet talking.

"You're looking reprehensible today. No that's not right," she glared at the mirror. She cleared her throat and tried again, attempting to mimic the tone cinder used when fooling men into doing her bidding.

"The average beowolf can crush the bones of a— no, that's wrong too," she huffed. Maybe she needed to try a compliment.

"You remind me of my long-time dead ex-husband," she swooned. That... didn't sound right either.

"WATTS!" she called. He poked his head in. He looked like he had just woken up, his mustache in complete disarray.

"Yes my queen?" he asked through a yawn. She checked the clock. When did it get to two in the morning!?

"How does one talk seductively?" she asked in the way that a young girl asks a camp counselor for help on a crafts project.

"What?" he asked, confused by her request and wondering if he was perhaps still asleep.

"Men. How do I talk to them?" she demanded once more.

"You're talking to me right now," he pointed out.

"You're not a man. You're my peon," she stated with all the tact of a nuclear warhead. Watts sighed and shrugged.

"Perhaps," he yawned again, "try welcoming him in a warm way."

"Like with fire?" she asked. He did a double take and shot her an exasperated look.

"No my queen. Warm as in kind, friendly, nice, quite literally the antithesis of who you are—" he halted as she glared through him. He gulped and cleared his throat.

"Perhaps just be the first thing he sees?" he offered.

She hummed. That might work. It would be like an introduction to the rest of his life! She would be the shining light that he lay his eyes upon when he awoke from his Cinder induced slumber!

"That's a great idea! Good thing I thought of it," she cheered. Watts just groaned and left. He didn't get paid enough for this.

Actually he didn't get paid ever. He just didn't get killed by Grimm or Salem.

That worked too.


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello hello! The greeting machine has been fixed!**

**School puts a damper on updates, but I suppose that's what I signed up for.**

**Oh to be a high schooler with so much free time again. You never know how good you have it until it's over.**

**C'est la vie.**

**At any rate, enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

Cinder was not what one would call a "happy camper" right now.

Why? The answer was simple, and yet, oh so complicated at the same time.

Currently, she was standing still, holding a pillow in her hands that Salem was sobbing into. She, the fall maiden, reduced to a pillow holder.

Salem assured her it was a promotion.

"He thinks I'm hideous!" the queen lamented, hair down and in disarray.

Cinder would've told the woman that wasn't true, only when Tyrian tried that she hissed at him and he fainted. So she was content keeping the woman sad if it meant she wasn't furious.

Suddenly, a Seer floated over slowly, an ornate, silver tray balanced on its head. On the tray was a box of tissues, and a get well card. Cinder raised an eyebrow at the card.

Salem noticed as well, and picked up the card. It read on the front, "sorry that it didn't go well" and on the inside it read "but at least you have us!" Underneath the inside writing was an array of sloppy and crude lines and splotches of ink. The Seer hovered there and clicked away. Salem just stared at it.

Was this a joke?

"Did... did the Grimm just write you a card?" Cinder asked, shocked at the... thought? Maybe thought wasn't the right word but nonetheless, she was surprised that the seemingly mindless creatures were capable of consolation.

"They've never done something like this before! This is so sweet of them!" the woman cooed, hugging the jellyfish-like creature to her bosom. The beast clicked away in what she assumed was happiness.

Cinder slowly stepped back and out of the room. She was content to let the Grimm deal with their queen as they saw fit, especially if it meant she didn't have to witness the strange sight in front of her any longer. She turned and saw a line of other Grimm of all kinds waiting outside the door tentatively, staring past her and into the room.

She stepped to the side and they all took it as permission to flood into the ancient woman's room. Cinder would deny the small snort she let out when she heard Salem start shouting at the beasts to calm down and leave before they wrecked the place.

Now onto more pressing matters. How would she go about getting her next orders? With Salem in such a state, the woman was in no mood to send her minions out to find maidens or relics or Ozpin.

They had tried for the last two days to get the woman back into her evil-doing mood, but it was to no avail. She was, to their knowledge, heartbroken. Which meant the only way they could really resolve the issue would be to mend her broken heart.

"When did this become my life?" Cinder asked herself. Probably the same time she'd decided to follow the evil Grimm lady and do whatever she told her to do in return for magical powers.

When you said it out loud, it sounded fairly plausible that this would be the outcome.

"Having girl problems Cindy?"

And there was _that_. It made her want to rip off her ears so she couldn't hear anymore of his incessant rambling.

Or maybe rip off his ears just for the hell of it.

"Personally, I'm surprised. When I told the little guys you assigned to watch me that they should give her a card, I didn't think they'd actually _do _it. Or, really, were _capable _of doing it," Roman said as he sauntered past her.

"And just where do you think you're going? You're supposed to be confined to your room," a room that, much to all their own chagrin, was much larger and much nicer than anything Salem had given them.

"Well since my last thirteen escape attempts have all been foiled, I was just going to pay a little visit to our dear friend Watson."

"Watts."

"How about Watt-ever? I know what his name is you egocentric bastard," he said hypocritically as he kept on walking down the hall.

Cinder was about to burn the man where he stood when Salem leaned out of her room.

"Did you hear that Cinder!? He sent them here! And they listened! He really does care!" the woman swooned, draping herself across an ursa as if it were a chaise lounge.

"And why exactly did they listen to him? Shouldn't they have tried to kill him?" Cinder asked. Well, it was more of a plea, hoping the beasts would've torn him apart. Salem hummed.

"Well I _did _order them to leave him be, so technically they're just regular animals to him now. He must've realized that and took a chance at commanding them! That's the perfect mindset for a husband of mine!"

As Salem swooned and rubbed a circle on the ursas back, Cinder growled and resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall beside her.

And why the hell did Roman want to see Watts of all people?

"Cinder! Gather in the throne room in five minutes! My spirits have been revitalized!" Salem announced, sitting upright on the ursa and spitting its side with her heel, "Mush!"

As the queen rode her way to the throne room, Cinder couldn't help but feel that she would've been better off in jail.

* * *

Roman sat in a plush armchair, a drink at his side and a cigar in hand. His chair was sat beside a large window overlooking the Grimmlands, and the 'spawning pools' as Watts had called them.

Speaking of Watts, the man sat across from Roman, the same drink in hand and a cigar hanging from his mouth. He sighed as he took a long drag before breathing it out slowly.

"I must say Roman I didn't think there could be a man with tastes so similar to my own! A man of your class is in good hands here, I assure you," Watts claimed as he leaned back. Roman took a sip of his drink, Atlas Whiskey that'd been aged for ten years. Stolen, no doubt, but that's what made it so good.

"If it weren't for the less than pleasant view and the admittedly hot but crazy Grimm queen, I might not have had a problem being here," he said.

"Quite so. I often wonder if I should've stayed in Atlas, where the pay was good. I mean, sure I'm free to experiment and do as I please out here, but where's the fun if there's nobody telling you it's wrong?" Watts drawled as he waved his hand around.

"I feel you good sir, I really do. When I ditched Cinder and hid in Beacon there was a thief shaped hole in my heart. Stealing office supplies just wasn't the same as grand theft," the crook mused.

Speaking of Beacon, Roman wondered where the others were. He certainly was worried for Neo and Glynda, but what exactly could any of them do at the moment?

Even if they were to stage a rescue, how would they get in, find him _and _that lamp that he had on his bedside table, get away from Salem, and get out of the Grimmlands without being taken out of the sky by a giant nevermore or something?

Thankfully, he knew in his heart of hearts that Glynda and Neo were smarter than that, and wouldn't dare let their emotions cloud their perception of what was actually doable. Imagine if they just tried coming in a bullhead? How would they even manage that?

"Thinking of simpler times?" Watts asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Not particularly. Simple has never been my forte," the thief replied. Going from Vacuo, to infamous thief, to Beacon, and now all of this? Simple wasn't even a concept to him. Look at the kind of women he attracted!

Speaking of, he really had to find a way out of here. While it was nice to know he wasn't going to be tortured or killed and that he was generally safe from whatever these people were planning, he couldn't help but miss Neo and Glynda and hell, even Qrow and Red had grown on him. Plus there was Chew, and without him there, he was sure Neo would end up overfeeding the poor dog until he didn't fit that armor anymore.

A Seer floated over and stopped in front of Watts. Roman watched the thing suspiciously. He got a really bad feeling from those things, but they listened to him when he told them to go away so he wasn't too worried.

"_Watts. Your presence is requested by her grace,_" Hazel's voice grumbled from the creature's head. Watts sighed but nodded, pulling himself up and snuffing his cigar out in a small tray beside him. He downed his drink and placed the cup beside the ashtray.

"It appears the queen has gotten over her slump. Good day Roman," Watts departed, the Seer following after him.

Roman decided to scout around the large tower. Better to find some form of escape route than sit around and do nothing all day. Night? It was hard to tell here since the sky was purple all the time.

He really hoped Neo was okay. Gods forbid she actually try and rescue him in person. That was a death wish!

* * *

_This was a death wish, _Neo thought as she and Glynda tore across the sky at blinding speeds. They'd acquired a bullhead that was meant for performance flights, meaning the damn thing was light, small, and so fast that Neo was beginning to understand Jayne's motion sickness.

She was also surprised Glynda knew how to fly such a thing. Granted it wasn't the smoothest flight, but they hadn't crashed yet.

Chew whined. He didn't seem to like the speed either. The dog had taken to hiding his head in her stomach, avoiding looking out the window. She pet him softly. Neo herself was concentrating hard enough as is.

"You are doing well Ms. Politan. We should be there soon enough," Glynda said as she leaned on the control stick, pushing the machine forwards.

She was referring to Neo keeping her semblance up for an elongated period of time. She had cloaked the bullhead to look like a griffon, and had been doing so for about an hour now. The Grimmlands were large, unexplored, and, most annoyingly, it all looked the same.

They'd gotten the bullhead a day ago, and had been flying for an entire day as well. Then there was the initial day that they had to use to actually gather all of their stuff. That was three days that had passed that Roman could've been tortured or maimed. Her foot tapped anxiously, and her eyes narrowed as she continued to hold her semblance.

"I'm sure he's okay. You know better than I that Roman has a talent for making the worst of situations swing in his favor," the woman said, only able to send her a sidelong glance for fear of crashing the aircraft.

Neo felt the need to point out that the woman probably wasn't the best person to be telling her to calm down considering she had been gripping the control stick of the ship so hard that Neo swore it would come off if she so much as twitched.

_"As true as that is, he also has a habit of making every situation he's in worse than it was when he started," _Neo's scroll spoke. Glynda didn't deny that. There wasn't really any way she could.

_"Not to mention that he's easy to bribe, has a knack for upsetting the wrong people, and I'm almost certain he'd rather die than do more than three hours of work at a time," _the mute continued, making Glynda more and more worried that Roman had probably gotten himself killed by this point.

"These are not the words of encouragement that I was reaching for."

"_Those _were _the words of encouragement."_

"I think we need to redefine what encouragement is."

"_I think you mean that Roman has to make it easier to define."_

The two women sighed. That was true. The man made the word 'reasonable' less than a concept.

"We can only hope then," Glynda said softly as she refocused on the sky ahead, swerving to go around a mountain. Neo nodded.

As they rounded the other side of the mountain, their eyes both narrowed.

In front of them was a large, sinister tower. It was more like a fortress than anything. Deep purples, blacks, and reds adorned the exterior, and it looked like it had crawled from the earth itself rather than being built.

"Prepare for landing. I will find somewhere hidden," the huntress said as the bullhead slowed and began its descent.

The lower they got, the more the tower's real height became evident. If it was big from the sky, it was absolutely massive from the ground.

And now they had to search the damn thing for Roman.

"Please let him be on the bottom floor," Glynda mumbled.

Little did they know, Roman had just gotten up and finished his drink as a griffon landed near the tower. He had a good view of the thing from the very top floor of the tower.

"Hope that thing stays away from me," Roman mumbled as he walked out of the room he and Watts had occupied.

On the ground, Glynda and Neo bristled and shook with rage, but neither knew why.

* * *

Miltia would like to think that when they said they'd be okay taking a train across Mistral, that everything might actually be okay.

Foolish of her, really.

Melanie flipped over her as she slashed a manticore in half. She stood ready to kick at another when Miltia dashed ahead of her and clawed at its face.

The beast roared and threw her off, but she flipped and landed perfectly, throwing her head to the side to flick a strand of hair out of her face.

"These things are hella annoying," she groaned, sauntering up to stand beside Melanie. The twin in white hummed her agreement as they both dropped and prepared for the beast to charge.

And charge it did, roaring and glaring its wings. As it tried to gouge them with its horns they dodged to both sides, the beast stopping and digging its claws into the top of the train as it skid to turn towards them. The sound of metal grating was like nails on a chalkboard.

As the twins fought towards the back of the train, Mercury was fighting near team JNPR, who were escorting passengers away from the more heavily attacked part of the train.

"I fucking hate these things!" the assassin growled as he kicked a manticore in the mouth, firing a bullet and exploding its head before it could launch a fireball at him.

"Where are they coming from!?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha took off the legs of another manticore, Pyrrha stabbing it through as it fell.

"Well Mr. Arc, I'm almost positive that it has something to do with _someone _angering half of the train by saying that all Mistralis had poor hygiene and causing a large negative output," Ozpin stated, making sure he kept himself and Oscar alive. He leapt back as Nora smashed the head of another beast into pieces.

"They were totally asking for it!" Mercury shouted as he sent another shot forward, sending the encroaching beast off the side of the train.

"You didn't have to say it out loud!" Weiss shouted as she flew across the side of the train, riding her glyphs as she maneuvered around the Grimm currently flying. She leapt forward, spearing one in the throat and leaping off its body back towards the twins.

"We stepped on the train and it smelled like someone died and shit themselves! Was I _not _supposed to comment!?" the young man asked, doing a split as a manticore flew overhead trying to mail him and instead being sucker punched and exploding as Yang shit towards the back of the train to help the twins and Weiss.

"Well you didn't have to specify _why _you thought it smelled so bad!" Yang yelled as Blake launched forward, throwing Gambol Shroud to the blonde and spinning to send the girl into the air. The brawler crashed into a manticore, grabbing it's horns and ripping it in half.

"WELL I THOUGHT WE WERE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE!" Mercury had stopped fighting entirely by this point, turning and shouting at the airborne brawler.

"Why would we all be in agreement on racism?" Ren asked as he shot two Grimm behind him. Mercury stepped to the side and swung his leg up and around, cracking his leg across the face of a third beast.

"Oh come on! Old man, you agree with me right?" Mercury asked Qrow as he and Ruby danced around each other, scythes out and hacking away at Grimm left and right.

"Well, my tribe is originally from Mistral so I don't know if I can be with you on this one kid," Qrow said loudly as he blocked a fireball by spinning Harbinger rapidly.

"Yeah exactly! You're living proof!" Mercury said as he jumped back down into the train to assist in moving people.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID THAT BASTARD JUST SAY!" Qrow screamed, running and jumping down after him. They approached a tunnel and the others ran and gathered around the hatch of the train.

"It's cleared up significantly," Weiss said as they all stood inside now. They all sighed in relief as the train came out the other end of the tunnel and silence greeted them.

"Mission successful!" Mercury said with a proud smile. Jaune looked among everyone. They all nodded. He turned and slapped the assassin across the face.

"Okay I deserved that one," Mercury groaned as he rubbed his face.

"Now can we all settle down without something else going awry?" Ozpin asked. They all shrugged and he sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. Oscars nose? Their nose.

"_Can I have my body back now?" _Oscar asked from within. Ozpin nodded and a moment later the body of Oscar appeared as if it were a different person entirely.

"Cool. Now, Stumpy, you stay in your cart for the rest of the trip. Girls, make sure he doesn't leave," Qrow said as he turned and began walking away. Mercury protested but the twins grabbed him and dragged him to their room.

"I think it's safe to say that all of that could've gone better," Blake said as she leaned against the wall.

"Coulda gone whole lot worse too! We could've exploded! Or been separated! What if we had the relic, and the relic attracted _more _Grimm! Wouldn't that be crazy!?" Nora proposed.

Oscar sighed when Ozpin coughed.

"Well the thing that matters is that we're okay," Pyrrha assured. The others nodded and went to go rest. Ruby however stayed where she was and looked out the window.

"You're worrying again," Yang said as she strolled forward and looked out with her sister.

"How can I not?" Ruby asked. Yang hummed. That was fair.

Ruby had been in a funk for the last few days. Neo had assured her that she'd be okay, but who could really say? They were two people flying head first into the most dangerous place in the world!

"You know she'd tell you not to worry," Yang said, leaning her back against the window as she looked at her sister.

"I thought you were supposed to be with me and against her!" the young reaper groaned. Yang rolled her eyes.

"Make no mistake Rubes, I think she's an idiot," Ruby smirked a little but it went away quickly, "but I also know that she'd be worse if she stayed with us while Torchwick had who-knows-what happen to him."

Ruby groaned. Mostly because she didn't want to admit that she knew she was wrong. But that didn't mean she couldn't be angry!

"Listen, I'm gonna go and take a nap in our cart. Try not to dwell on this too much or you'll just be cranky," the brawler hugged her sister, Ruby squawking in surprise before she stepped away and left her to her thoughts.

She was about to go look for her uncle when she heard the door to the cart open. She looked back expecting to see Yang again but was surprised to see Oscar. No, judging by his posture it was Ozpin.

"I see I wasn't the only one coming here to think for a spell," he said, a small smile on his face.

"How's Oscar?" Ruby asked. Ozpin hummed and closed his eyes. He chuckled a moment later.

"He is tired. His first time fighting on a moving train was tasking for him so I've taken over while he rests," the man-turned-child explained. Ruby made a little oh with her mouth as Ozpin stared out the window. Wow, this window was getting a lot of attention today!

"You needn't worry Ms. Rose. Glynda and Ms. Politan are highly capable of handling this quietly," he said suddenly.

"But what happens if they get caught?" Ruby asked, distraught. Ozpin closed his eyes and his face remained almost neutral but for a small, almost unnoticeable grimace from the corner of his mouth.

That meant bad things. Probably death. Maybe torture.

"It is of the utmost importance that they retrieve the relic. Roman too, of course, but with the relic our enemies grow exponentially stronger."

"And what exactly does the relic do? Does it destroy mountains? Light rivers on fire?" Ozpin chuckled.

"Heavens no. Well, not the relic of knowledge at least," Ozpin assured. Ruby sighed. That was good at least.

It had been a long few days. Sienna Khan had been left to the Mistral mafia, so whatever was happening to her was anyone's idea. The twins assured them that she would be fine.

Sun had left when Neptune showed up and smacked him upside the head. It wasn't the happy team reunion that she was used to but she was sure it was a love slap.

Blake's friend had also gone back to Menagerie, claiming that the island needed to be cleaned up of any unsavory remains. Ruby didn't get a chance to talk to the girl but she seemed nice enough. Maybe a little too emo for her but still.

And then they were here. On this train, fighting Grimm that Mercury may or may not have attracted with his lack of social filter.

She didn't even realize it but she had been spacing out while Ozpin spoke to her.

"Wha?" she asked. He smiled and shook his head.

"I was simply saying that you should not focus on the time you are spending apart from Ms. Politan. It will only make her absence that much harder on you."

She felt like she'd been hearing that a lot lately.

"Do try and rest your spirit Ms. Rose. We still have a long journey ahead of us," the wizard told her, leaving her be once more.

She idly waited to see if another person would enter the cart and tell her to stop worrying, but after two minutes of waiting she slumped in relief.

Normally she'd tinker with Crescent Rose to pass the time or take her mind off things, but that wasn't an option right now.

Maybe she'd go try and mess with her uncle while he was drunk. She giggled at the thought.

That would do for now.

* * *

Salem set her gaze among the minions before her. In all her years of being an evil overlord, this particular group of servants was perhaps the most interesting and uncoordinated group she'd ever had.

Amazing they'd made as much progress as they had.

"What was our next course of action?" Salem asked. Watts stood.

"We were to move on Vacuo. Due to the extreme environment and people there we need to search much harder for the maiden than—"

"Move on Atlas instead," Salem interrupted.

They all looked among each other before looking back to the woman.

"Of course your grace," Watts said, seating himself again. She hummed.

"Do we know where the winter maiden is?" she asked.

"We do not, my goddess," Tyrian said sorrowfully, his new mechanical tail curling up as he hunched over. She drummed her fingers across the arm of her throne.

"Find her then."

They all nodded and stood to leave but she held a hand up.

"We are not done here," she said, eyes narrowed. They all sat once more, more or less happy to see her in her evil mood again.

"Ozpin thinks he could fool the world that Atlas is the pinnacle of technology, that they have made advancements that allow their city to fly. We know the true source of this is no mere discovery."

They all nodded. The relic of creation. Untold power within one single staff.

"What would you have us do your majesty?" Hazel asked. Tyrian cackled into his hands.

"What else? We will steal it from under Atlas's nose and watch the city collapse in itself!"

"That wouldn't be too bad," Watts hummed in thought. The same city that turned away his genius? Crashing and burning? Literally, at that!

"And how would we obtain the staff?" Cinder asked. Tyrian laughed again, hands atop The meeting table and leaning bodily over it.

"We burn our way in and slaughter anyone in our way—"

"That's not a great way to steal something ya know."

They all turned toward the door and saw Roman leaning against the frame. He took one long drag from his cigar before tossing it behind him. It landed on a Seer and the creature floated away without even noticing.

"Get out of here! We're trying to—" Cinder was cut off by a black tendril coming from the ground and wrapping around her mouth. Salem leaned forward, smiling warmly at the thief.

"Please, go on," she gestured for him to sit. He shrugged and sauntered forward, taking a seat beside Watts and across from Hazel.

"Well, if this is Atlas we're talking about I hardly doubt that they just have it sitting in a vault like Haven did. I'm thinking turrets, a few different emergency doors, and probably an elevator or something," he rattled off.

"And... you're sure about that?" Watts asked, surprised that Roman would just join their meeting that was, by all means, against his own side.

"Oh god no," he laughed, waving the man off, "but I'm positive that if you take that staff they've got ways to make sure you go down with the city. Probably an emergency lock or something." Tyrian stood on his chair.

"That's why we break in! Then we come out the same way we came in and—"

"And what? That thing is probably in the depths of Atlas. Unless you wanna try flying right into Atlas territory and up the kingdoms wazzu, you're not gonna break anything," the crook reasoned.

"And how would you do it?" Salem asked, intrigued by his cunning. Nobody else saw it that way but you know what they say about rose tinted glasses.

"Well personally, I would find the strongest weakest link and go from there," he said as he kicked his feet up on the table.

"The strongest... weakest link?" Hazel repeated. He nodded.

"Yeah. Find someone high in power but weak willed and you've got yourself an in! I did it all the time in Vale," he said. They all remained silent and looked at each other. Was he really just doing this?

"Who... do you think that'd be?" Watts asked, tentative to this being a setup. Roman grinned.

"I have an idea but I don't think anyone would appreciate the answer."

"No no, please... _go on_," Salem cooed. The others shivered. They watched as Roman barely reacted. Either he was unaware of her deep interest in him or he didn't care. Either way it was impressive in its own way.

"Ah, well, I can't just give that away for free. I have standards. You understand, don't you... beautiful?"

They all froze.

Then there was a noise. It sounded like a teapot boiling. It took a moment for them to realize that it was Salem.

Roman didn't try and hide his smirk. He didn't have to. They all held their breath as they stared at the man.

So the bastard _did _know then.

"And what is it that you desire?" Salem asked, a hungry look in her eyes. Roman hummed as if he hadn't already had something in mind. He rubbed his jawline and trailed his hand up to scratch his head, his arms becoming more defined as his suit strained with the movement.

He was flexing.

And she was eating it up.

They all swore internally.

"Oh, a little of this a little of that," he said, swaying his head side to side as he 'considered' what he wanted.

Cinder seethed. Emerald took a step away as she felt heat radiate off of the woman. She also didn't want to agree with the man but as a thief herself she knew that he was right. She just never needed to do any of that layered planning herself because her semblance did all of that for her.

"My queen, if I may interject—"

"You may not. Be silent, mommy is talking," Salem didn't take her eyes off of Roman as she waved the fall maiden off.

Cinder visibly withered. Roman laughed at her. She hissed at him. He didn't even try to hide it! He turned back to Salem and cleared his throat.

"Now... about those demands..."

They all had a bad feeling about what was to come. All but Salem, who snapped her fingers, ready to order them to do whatever the thief requested.

Perhaps the crook was more than they bargained for.

Or maybe he was luckier than they thought.

* * *

Neo and Glynda peered around the corner of the dark interior of the tower. They had gotten lost while traversing the structure. It didn't help that the halls all looked the same.

They only knew that they were going up, as the dungeon had yielded no results.

Except for a pile of human bones. That was a result technically, just not one that either woman wanted.

To make matters worse, there were these jellyfish things floating around and clicking away. They were very unsettling, and Neo had to hold Chew back when he tried to lunge at one.

Glynda took a step forward and Neo followed. The woman only moved when she was sure it was clear, so Neo would follow and stop as she did.

"This place has definitely set the new record for most unsettling place I've ever been," Glynda whispered. Neo nodded. This place was like a spider's web mixed with a hornet's nest. Truly hostile in every way.

They climbed yet another set of stairs and Neo took a deep breath. There were a lot of stairs in this goddamn tower. As the two came to what was, by Neo's count, about the fifteenth floor, Chew began sniffing the air.

He looked down a hallway and took off. Neo chased and Glynda swore as she followed. They rounded the corner to find Chew pawing at a door. He growled before he stood on his hind legs and pressed into the door. It creaked loudly before it came off of its hinges and crashed onto the floor with a loud thud.

The two dropped into fighting stances as they prepared for someone to come after the noise, but after a minute there was nothing. No noise, no Grimm, no people. Chew trotted happily into the room.

The two walked in and looked around. The room was large and quite luxurious, looking like a penthouse suite in a hotel. They looked around and saw a large bed sat opposite of a fireplace. Next to the bed was a small table, and on that table was—

"The lamp," Glynda said in surprise. That certainly wasn't what they were expecting to find in here. Neo stepped over and looked around the relic before slowly and carefully picking it up. She clenched her eyes shut as she held it out in front of her.

When it didn't explode she opened her eyes and allowed herself to relax a little. She clipped the lamp to her belt and turned to Glynda, giving my the woman a thumbs up.

Chew seemed to ignore the lamp entirely, walking over to the other bedside table and sniffing around. Suddenly he started panting and turned back to the two, barking once.

Neo shushed him as she came over to the other side of the bed and saw what Chew was sniffing. It was a box of cigars.

Roman's cigars.

Had Roman been staying in this room?

"What the hell Roman?" Glynda asked out loud. Evidently she had come to the same conclusion as her.

"Let us search for him. If he is as... well situated as this, he must be around here somewhere," she instructed. Neo nodded and they both left the room. As they rounded the corner they looked out the large window at their side.

They were _really _high up. Was Roman really up here?

Chew suddenly stood on alert.

Both of them noticed and looked around. They saw what had riled him up, it stood in the middle of the hallway.

A massive alpha beowolf sniffed the air before turning towards them. It lowered itself and growled.

Chew growled back.

Neo tried to stop the dog from charging but was unable to halt him from dashing forward and tackling the beowolf. Glynda and Neo ran after him.

Unsurprisingly, Chew carried the beast with him as if the massive creature was a sack of potatoes. He continued running forward, alpha stuck on his front as he charged, until he collided with a massive door at the end of the hallway. The doors didn't open so much as they exploded into a shower of splinters.

The two stood frozen on the other side of the door. Chew stood within the room, now on top of a large table, beowolf dissipating beneath him.

Around the table were some of the most dangerous people on the planet.

At the far side of the room a woman, as evil looking as they come, sat on a throne, also frozen and staring at them.

Roman stood off to the side, arms out as if he had just been talking to... the woman on the throne?

"Arf arf!"

Roman groaned as he put his hands into his face.

So much for using his semblance to charm the queen of Grimm.

"Hi?" he tried, waving at the two.

Behind the two women, various growls and hisses could be heard. They turned and saw a hallway that had previously been empty now packed full of Grimm.

"Wow this is awkward," he continued, nobody else saying a word.

"Who would _this _be then?" Salem asked, a dangerous edge to her voice. A sharp edge that Glynda recognized. One of... jealousy?

"I believe that would be Glynda Goidwi—" Watts was cut off when she held a hand up.

"_Roman, _who would these people be?" she reiterated.

Roman laughed.

He was the only one.

"Well... that's Neo. She's my kid," he said slowly.

Salem's eyes soften as she scanned the short girl. Then they sharpened considerably when they fell upon Glynda, who glared back with the same intensity.

"And this?" she asked.

Roman paled.

_Don't make it worse, _Glynda thought.

_Don't make it worse, _Neo pleaded internally.

_Don't make it worse, _all of Salem's minions hoped.

_DON'T MAKE IT WORSE, _Roman told himself.

"My lover?"

Salem's glare turned killer.

Glynda matched it.

He made it worse.

"Roman you are perhaps the most unintelligent man I've ever had the displeasure of meeting," Cinder claimed, both hands covering her face.

For once he didn't argue back.

* * *

"Roman what the hell are you doing!?"

"Relax Glyn, it's not that bad."

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONE IN A DUNGEON CELL!"

"It's not the worst dungeon cell it could be!" Roman stood on the other side of the bars, Neo and Chew by his side as he spoke to Glynda.

She held her hands in front of him for him to see the chains she was currently in.

"I've seen worse chains."

"Roman." she said calmly, "Fix. This."

"Well there's not a lot I can do!" he whined.

"Surely there's some alternative," Glynda said, remarkably well postured still. Even if she was in chains in a dungeon she would still exude the aura of the most threatening woman on the planet.

Roman didn't mention that she had a little competition on that front.

"Well I can get you out but..." he trailed off and Neo shook her head. Glynda sighed.

"And what exactly is her ultimatum for my release?"

Roman laughed and gave her finger guns. That meant she'd hate it.

"Well, ya see, Salem," Glynda glared at his first name basis with the woman, "she seems really interested in me. Like way too interested in me. And she said that she'd feel less threatened if I was single."

"And tell me again why _she's_ the one who feels threatened?" Glynda asked pointedly.

Roman laughed nervously again. He said something but mumbled and turned away. Neo pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What was that?" Glynda asked, arms crossed through her chains and foot tapping impatiently.

"...Something about natural color," he said quietly.

Glynda had a powerful urge to tear the cell open and go back upstairs to kill the woman herself but knew that doing so might put Roman and Neo in danger as well.

Of course the chains that held her wouldn't actually keep her there, she could move and replace whole sections of city walls at a time, no old chains were going to impede her. But they didn't know what Salem was capable of and they'd rather not implode the tower while they were still within.

"We came here to rescue you Roman. Because we thought you were in danger. Why the hell do you have a five-star hotel room!?" Glynda asked.

Neo sent him a look and crossed her arms as well. He shrugged.

"I dunno! I guess Salem has a thing for powerful men," he tried.

"Why kidnap you then?"

"Ouch Glyn, ya know with words like that you're lucky I don't go running into her boo— her arms," Roman said, not acknowledging his slip. Glynda growled and he looked away.

"So anyways,_ Roman changed the subject swiftly, "you guys have a way out right?" Neo stepped up to prevent him from digging his grave deeper.

_There's a high-speed bullhead waiting outside, _she signed. He hummed.

"Neo, why don't you go scout around and try and find a way to distract all of them? If you guys really have a ship outside like you mentioned then we'll need to be able to leave without that flying bitch missile Cinder taking us out of the sky," Roman suggested. Neo shook her head however.

_Last time I left you alone you got yourself kidnapped and made everyone, especially me, worry, _she argued. He sighed.

"And I'm sorry about that kiddo, but now we gotta get outta here before she tries and makes me have sex with her!" Roman pleaded.

"WHAT!?"

"See!? If that happens Glynda will kill me!"

Neo gave him a look and he rubbed a hand down his face, stepping up and hugging the girl.

"Thank you for coming to rescue me, you're the most important thing in my life, you're the best, yadda yadda— that enough?" he asked. She tapped her chin and held up a finger. He groaned.

"_And _I'll get you that ice cream you really like when we get back to civilization," he added. She smiled and stood at attention, saluting him before ushering Chew to follow her. He did so happily.

"Are you sure it's a safe idea to let her roam around without you?" Glynda asked. He nodded.

"Looks like Salem doesn't have anything against her so she should be alright," he said as he watched the girl go. He turned back to Glynda and cracked his knuckles.

"Now that she's gone I will expertly lockpick this cage to free you and—" he was cut off but the screeching and cracking of stone and steel as Glynda ripped the cell apart. When she was done the only thing that remained on her side of the cell was a pile of rubble.

"That works too," he said. She stepped forward and slapped him across the face, whipping his head to the side.

"I deserved that."

Then she grabbed him and kissed him, separating after a moment and adjusting her blouse.

"I missed you, you terrible bastard," she said looking him in the eyes.

"Missed you too Glyn," he said, usual smirk in place. She huffed.

"How on Remnant did you manage to get the queen of Grimm to fall in love with you?" she grumbled, arms crossed under her breasts and hip cocked to the side.

"Jealous?" he asked. She slapped him again.

"Don't push it," she warned. He nodded and she began leading him to the bullhead.

The Grimm seemed to ignore them, or rather, they ignored Roman who would shoot them away. When they rounded the corner that Glynda led them to, she swore at the sight.

"Typical," she mumbled. Roman whistled at the sight.

What was probably once a bullhead looked like it had been turned into a playground for little beringals. They played with the sheets of metal and he even saw one gnawing on the engine.

"Is this our getaway vehicle?" he asked.

"Once upon a time," she replied.

They turned and walked back into the tower dungeons. Roman hummed as he paced around.

"I know they have bullheads here but they'll definitely notice if one disappears. Actually, speaking of, how did you guys manage to get here?" he asked.

"Neo used her semblance to disguise our ship as a griffon," she told. He hummed. Maybe they could try that again.

Except if Salem wanted him then she'd definitely know the difference between a real Grimm and an illusion.

"Hopefully Neo will find out how to cause one hell of a distraction," he said aloud. She sighed but knew that was their only chance at the moment. Cause a distraction, steal a bullhead, and hopefully live to tell the tale.

They were so dead.

* * *

Neo wandered the Halls of the tower, taking in the atmosphere the place exuded. The place was awfully dull; no paintings or carpets. They even still used torches on the walls!

Neo rounded the corner while observing all of this and walked face first into something. Something very soft, and large enough to encompass her whole face.

"Why hello there little one," Salem said from above her.

Ah. It was tits she had walked into.

Neo slowly stepped back and looked up at the woman. Damn she was tall! It was a miracle that Neo even reached her boobs at all!

Neo waved and Salem raised an eyebrow.

"No words yet? I haven't left you speechless have I?" she asked. Neo would've explained that she was technically always speechless but decided that explaining that to the woman would probably take longer than she had.

After all, she was supposed to be finding a way to get them a window of opportunity. She was about to excuse herself and step past her when she was stopped in the most humiliating way she had ever been stopped by another adult.

"You know you are just the cutest thing~" Salem said as she picked her up from under her arms and held Neo in front of her. Neo's mouth hung open at the act, unable to believe what just happened.

"To think that Roman is handsome _and _a good father? Your siblings will be just as cute as you, I can assure it," Salem went on, carrying Neo with her effortlessly.

A heavy blush finally started making its way onto her face. She was being treated like she was a kid! And this woman was talking about banging her dad! What the hell!?

"Tell me, what is it you love the most dear?" Salem asked, walking through the halls without even looking away from Neo's own face. It was pretty freaky how well she knew the halls. Neo figured the faster she gave Salem what she wanted, the faster she could get back to work.

Neo attempted to sign something but remembered how useless that was here. Quickly she reached into her pocket and fished out her scroll, opening it and showing the woman a picture of her, Ruby, and Chew in front of her favorite ice cream shop. In it, Ruby was giving her a peck on the cheek, blushing heavily as she looked away from the camera. Chew was still a puppy and was sitting in the young reapers lap.

"That girl has... silver eyes," Salem said with a flat expression, which softened quickly, "but if that's what you desire then so be it! Better to have her with us than against us!"

She snapped her fingers and Neo heard a terrifying screech. She looked out a nearby window and watched a veritable avalanche of nevermore flying away.

"She will be here by tomorrow!" Salem said proudly.

Neo paled. Argus was about to have a lot of trouble.

"Now then, I see you like that confection as well," Salem said, still carrying the girl. Finally they stopped in front of a door. Neo had her back essentially pressed to the door and it felt... cold?

Salem placed her down and pushed the door open. Neo shivered and turned around, wondering why it was so cold.

She was greeted with a beautiful sight.

The reason the room was cold was because it was a giant freezer. A giant freezer filled with all different types of ice cream.

"I discovered this treat a century ago. I've had my minions collect it for me ever since," Salem explained.

Neo stepped inside as Salem followed her in.

Roman's plan could wait.

Heaven came first.

* * *

**And that's enough for now.**

**A shorter chapter this time, setting up for a lot and working off my own script. I'm excited to get more into this particular part of the story.**

**Also biding my time so that I can write volume seven to the best of my abilities. Irondaddy will get all of my attention.**

**Salem does what Salem does best; get into the minds of those around her and spread her evil from within. If in this case, evil is ice cream and minds is Neo's stomach.**

**Please remember to leave a review and follow if you want to see updates! Have a wonderful time!**

**And be careful not to bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Pyrrha tries to describe Argus to someone who already knows what Argus is like**

Jaune and Pyrrha were on their cart training.

Not on in the traditional sense though, on in the literal sense.

"Why are we doing this up here again!?" Jaune asked, yelling to be heard over the wind and train.

"It's good practice for fighting in an unstable environment!" Pyrrha replied. Jaune shrugged as he blocked a strike with his shield, stabbing out and towards his partners right abdomen. She dodged swiftly, and clashed with him as he closed the distance and got into her guard.

"You've I proved immensely Jaune!" she praised, sweeping his leg out from under him and landing a strike on his shoulder. His pauldrons blocked any real damage from being done but the force still sent vibrations down his back.

"I had a pretty good teacher!" he told as he rolled forward I to her legs. She was surprised by the move, as he would normally roll away to create distance. She fell and landed on top of him.

"That's one way to get your opponent down I suppose," Pyrrga laughed. He laughed as well as they pulled themselves up. There was a fing below them.

_"We'll be arriving in Argus within the hour!" _the conductor announced through the intercom. They decided that was a sign to stop for now and return to their room.

As they climbed down from the top of the train Jaune asked Pyrrha a question that had been on his mind.

"So I never knew you were from Argus," he started, "What was it like growing up there?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to answer but froze. She had never described her home to anyone. Especially since so many fans had made the town somewhat of a nuisance to traverse for her.

"Well, it's by the water," she said simply enough.

"But it's cold right? What'd you do in the water?" he asked confused. She paused again. Being close to the water in Argus was only nice if you liked fishing. Otherwise it was freezing and salty— unsuitable for drinking.

"Well, there's also the Atlesian Colossus but we aren't really allowed to see that," Pyrrga said, recalling the giant robot.

"Don't forget the trolley," Jaune said. She nodded.

"Yes yes, there's also the trolley... Wait, how did you—"

"My sister lives in Argus," he replied easily. She looked at him in confusion.

"Then why ask me what it's like?" she wondered, not understanding why he had asked in the first place.

"Well I wanted to hear what it was like for you," he said simply. She thought again.

"Oh," she said, surprised by how sweet that actually was, "well it wasn't always the most gentle environment, what with all the fans, but it's home."

He smiled and nodded. He certainly knew that feeling. Now it was Pyrrha's turn to ask a question.

"So am _I _going to get to meet this sister?" she asked. He paled.

"Do... do you want to?" he asked, hoping with all his heart she'd say no.

"I'd love to!" she replied, completely missing his fear and mistaking it for hope that she'd say yes.

_Shit, _he thought.

Looked like they'd be paying Saphron a visit.


	25. Chapter 25

**Not much to say but hello folks!**

**Hope everyone is staying healthy and doing well. The human body is resilient, so I have faith we'll get through this.**

**Also, things get very hectic in this chapter and I try writing more backstory that hasn't really been explained in the show. My apologies if there are holes, I tried to keep it in line with how I've explained it in my story.**

**Also this chapter might get a little... risque, so to speak.**

**I feel like the only thing that separates me from every other crackfic is that I don't use memes. I use my one hundred percent home-grown jokes and humor. I'm glad you all find it funny as well!**

**Enjoy the chapter and see ya at the bottom!**

* * *

Happy.

Neo was very, very happy.

There was a small Ruby-esque angel on her shoulder that was explaining why it was so bad she was happy right now.

The poor little thing didn't stand a chance when the two twin devil's on her other shoulder covered her mouth and shoved her in a locker.

"_Have some more! She like, totally offered," _they said in unison before proofing away.

Neo nodded and pushed another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. She had lost count of how many pints she'd gone through, too far in a trance to keep track. Salem lifted her spoon daintily to her lips before taking it in.

"I must say, it is lovely to have someone to enjoy these things with. My minions' tastes are all as bitter and salty as themselves! It's good to know somebody has a head on their shoulders around here though," Salem said as she sat in a large plush chair, adorned with deep reddish-purple upholstering and decorated with what looked to be human bones.

Laying beside her on an equally plush rug was Chew, body splayed out as the ancient woman gently rubbed behind his ears.

Neo nodded along with the woman. Roman had always told her that she ate enough for the both of them. How rude was that!? She worked hard to cut a figure this good! Plus she wasn't going to sit around and take that from a man who took his coffee black! Black! No sugar, no cream, no anything!

When people told Roman he was a bastard, Neo made sure he knew why.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door of what Neo had dubbed "The Vault of Heaven Itself" and the two women and one dog turned towards it.

"Er, your majesty?" Watts called from behind the door, "When do you intend to come out? It's been a day now and we never finished our briefing due to the door exploding."

"In a little bit Watts! I'm getting to know my new family!" Salem hissed. The man could be heard groaning and slapping his hand down his face before trodding off.

Neo raised an eyebrow at the woman. New family? What did she mean by that?

Oh. Right.

She had a thing for her dad.

Neo decided to broach that while she remembered.

_Why do you want a family so much? _Neo's scroll voiced, the girl looking at the woman. Salem looked over to her and sighed.

"I had my own once upon a time," she said, clearly not seeing any reason to keep secrets.

_What were they like?_

Salem hummed. While it had been literal generations since she'd seen her family she could remember them perfectly.

Unfortunately, remembering them also meant remembering _him._

"I had four beautiful daughters, each gifted and talented in ways that people simply aren't anymore," she recalled, gazing off wistfully. She was referring to their magical prowess which sadly ended with them as well.

The result of a lovers quarrel.

_What about their dad? _Neo asked, curious as to what went wrong with the woman's family life. Aside from the whole, looking like a Grimm woman thing.

Salem scowled and a fire pit behind her eyes. She grit her teeth and ceased petting Chew, who looked up at her in question. Neo blinked at the rapid shift from nostalgia to rueful remembrance.

"My... _husband," _she spat the word as though it had killed her family, (little did she know), "made choices that he knew I'd heavily disagree with. When I found out, he tried to take the kids in the night."

Neo pouted. That sounded pretty rude. She didn't remember her early childhood too much, probably a form of trauma or something, but she remembered the feeling of not having anyone. It was a dour existence.

"What of you?" Salem asked, leaning back in her seat, clearly in a mood now that her husband had been brought up, "are you the child of Roman and that _witch_?"

Ironic for her to call someone else a witch. Neo wisely didn't mention that.

_No. I was an orphan. Roman found me one day when I was getting beat up for stealing, _she told her, remembering how that week had gone.

/\=/\=/\

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, which wasn't too fast seeing as she was only about six or seven years old. In her hands was a wallet, not hers but very full, and she needed it for food.

Most would raise an eyebrow at a six year old knowing how to use money for goods and services but in Vacuo you either learned young or died trying.

She rounded a corner into an alley, looking back as the man chased. She turned just in time to run face first into a sedentary dumpster. Her face clanged off the hot metal and she tumbled to the floor.

She lay on the hot Vacuan ground, mostly sand and hard stone which was incredibly hot in the desert sun. She wore the same clothes she had for the last two or three years; a thin shirt with puppy patterns all over it, torn in places and stained in others, and a pair of shorts with a bunch of pockets that she thought for sure we're supposed to be for boys. She'd stolen them from a donation bin, though she didn't realize they were meant for kids like her in the first place.

Around her neck was her collection of necklaces she'd started. Only one of them was actually a _real _piece of jewelry, the others were mostly plastic beads that she'd picked up off the ground at festivals.

She looked behind herself to the entrance of the long alley way she'd just run in to see a man round the corner. He didn't look nearly as out of breath as she was.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you that stealing is wrong kid?" a gruff voice said behind her. She tried to stand but he kicked her in the side and she fell over again, holding herself.

The man walked over and picked his wallet back up before eying her.

"A kid like you? You'll go for a lot on the market," he said as he walked over and grabbed her by the hair. She hissed as he pulled her up and kicked him in the shins before biting his finger.

He screamed and backhanded her. Him being a fully grown adult and her being a small child, she was sent into one of the walls of the alley and toppled. He growled as he shook his hand, blood flying from his finger.

She had bit him hard and he looked a lot more angry now.

He raised a boot over her head and she closed her eyes as she prepared for the impact. She'd been kicked by other kids before, but she knew a person this big would really hurt.

Only the pain never came.

Only the sound of someone gasping for breath and struggling.

She opened her eyes and saw a man in a white coat with orange hair had his arm locked around the other man's neck. His eyes were green and currently very cold.

"Ya know, it's rude to hit kids that aren't yours," he said, his voice a little nasally and whiney, but still deep.

"Wh-who... a...are—" the man gurgled as he slapped at whatever he could, but due to the man in white being right behind him it was hard for him to find anything.

"Some call me a thief, others call me a 'vagabond' but really I'm just a guy trying to get outta this sandy vagina we call a kingdom," he claimed. A moment later the man slowed, before going still entirely.

He dropped him and the body went limp, splaying across the floor. Neo slowly crawled up before wincing and sitting on the ground.

The man didn't move, his eyes bloodshot and mouth hanging open.

"Bastard got a little blood on my jacket. That is gonna be a pain to get out," the orange haired man grumbled quietly, patting the corpse down before grabbing something. He looked over to her and saw her staring.

"Well hello there you little rugrat! I saw you steal this guy's wallet a few blocks back. Pretty sloppy work, but you're just a kid so I can't blame you," he said, strolling his way over and stopping in front of her.

Now that she could really look at him, she could take in his entire outfit. He wore a long white jacket, strange for someone in Vacuo, and held a cane in his off hand. He wore long brown slacks and had a pair of black boots that looked like they'd done a lot of face stomping. His face was unobstructed but for the sweeping of hair that crossed over one eye. His hands were uncovered and looked somewhat smooth, especially for a person who'd just choked another man to death.

Neo tried to back up but was already against a wall.

"Relax kid, I don't dabble in the same business this guy did. I prefer taking my money from people who deserve it, not selling kids and women to the highest bidder," he said as he crouched down on his heels.

She looked at him in awe. He wasn't going to hit her? And he wasn't calling her dirty or being mean?

Off in the distance there was a commotion.

"I think I saw him run down that alley!"

"That thief better be ready for a serious beating!"

The man sighed and looked down the other end of the alleyway before looking back at her with a smirk.

"Say kid, I gotta go and while you don't seem to say much I don't like taking chances with witnesses, and that's probably the cops," he said as he stretched.

She immediately felt that fear again. Did that mean he'd kill her too? But he'd said he preferred stealing! She was about to start crying when she gasped and felt herself leave the ground.

"You're coming with me kid. I'll figure out how to buy your silence after we get outta here," he said as he scooped her into his arms and ran further down the alley.

He rounded the corner and slowed to a speed walk, ducking and weaving through crowds.

She curled up as he brushed past people, keeping his head down as he mumbled to himself.

"Times like this I wish I had a way to cover my face..."

She heard him and looked up. He was keeping his face away from other people, looking away when they turned in his direction.

She looked past him and saw a man walking their way. He was dressed formally, probably a tourist from Atlas, and had a black bowler hat on his head. He was looking down at his scroll, unfocused on the world around him.

As they quickly passed by, Neo reached out from the orange haired man's arms and grabbed the hat right off the tourists head.

"Bwah!?" the man looked up and around, confused, but they had already slipped away, never to be seen by the man again.

The orange haired man didn't even notice, but blinked and stopped for a moment when Neo placed the hat on his head.

"Kid. Did you just steal someone else's hat and put it on me?" he asked, looking down at her.

She put her hands over her face in a peekaboo manner, before uncovering them and pointing to him. He looked up and into a nearby shop window.

He had to admit, not only did this cover his face from any onlookers, but it also went really well with the new white jacket he'd stolen! He didn't even look like the police rendition anymore! Maybe he'd get a pair of gloves to finish the look.

"Hmph. Not bad, kid," he smirked down to her and she smiled tentatively.

"He went this way I think!" the officers from before yelled as they ran past the two. Roman didn't even have to look down this time! They just passed him by!

"Well then. I think that this is a good time for me to decide what to do with you," he said as he slowly put her down.

She stood, wobbled a little but stayed standing when he took his hands off her. She looked up at him as he closed his eyes in thought.

"You got a name kid?" he asked.

She nodded.

They stood in silence for thirty seconds.

"...And that would be?" he gestured for her to go on with his hand. She opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

"Are you mute or something?" he asked, leaning on his cane.

She nodded again. He sighed.

"Course you are," he said. He stood up straight and clapped his hands.

"Here," he crouched down and picked up a small stone before handing it to her, "write your name in the sand here."

She looked at the stone and then back up at him. She blinked twice and tilted her head at him.

"You don't know how to read or write do you?" he deadpanned. She nodded again. He groaned.

"Okaaay, how about this," he reached forward slowly, waiting for her to nod before he grabbed one of the necklaces around her neck. There were three or four, a testament to her necklace collecting skills.

He finally found one that stood out from the others. For one, it was nicer. Not plastic or a bear necklace. It also had a small plate with words on it.

"Neo... Politan?" he asked. She nodded, a smile on her face.

"You got any parents?" he asked. She shook her head.

"You know what happened to them?" she put her palm out flat and walked her fingers down and away from herself. Roman tsked.

"Some fucking people," he said softly, his eyes hardening. He let her necklace go and stood up again before reaching his hand out.

"Tell you what Neo," he said, hand outstretched, "how's about you come with me for a little bit? Until we can find you a place to stay or something?"

She reached out slowly, waiting for him to take his hand back and leave without another word, but when she placed her tiny hand in his he closed it gently, walking down the street slowly with Neo in tow.

After two steps he looked up and stopped abruptly. He looked at the shop who's window he'd used as a mirror a moment ago. He looked down at her and back at the sign. She couldn't read the words but they were gold in color and looked fancy.

"You ever have ice cream kid?" he asked. She looked at him confused. He laughed. Ironic considering her name.

"Not a fan of the stuff myself but I'm not the one paying," he said, holding up the wallet from the man who'd hit her.

He walked them inside the small building and ordered something that she didn't quite understand. It sounded like he'd asked for her name, but what food had her name?

He hoisted her up and sat her down on a red chair before placing a small bowl in front of her. It was the same color as her hair!

"I almost forgot to introduce myself," he said as she looked between him and the ice cream.

"I'm Roman. Roman Torchwick," he said as he placed a plastic spoon in her hands.

"Enjoy kid," he said as he leaned on the counter and pulled out a cigar. He ignored the owner who told him not to light it inside.

She slowly took a spoonful and placed it in her mouth.

Her eyes widened.

Roman watched an addiction be born that day.

Little did he know, he'd witness it for the next eleven or so years.

\/=\/=\/

As Neo finished recounting the story she noticed Salem looking at her. No; staring. Salem was staring at her.

"Your father is a very strange man," Salem said. Neo nodded.

Roman was weird, and he could be downright immoral sometimes, but he was her family. Her only family for a long, long time.

"I must say, it is a shame he's already taken," Salem sighed. Neo suppressed a gag. She didn't need to be reminded that women fawned over Roman.

Speaking of, Neo wondered what Roman was doing. She swore she was supposed to do something but she couldn't for the life of her remember what it was.

* * *

"Unfortunately her majesty and Lady Politan are still indisposed," Watts said as he walked into the meeting room.

Roman was draped across Salem's throne, one arm hanging off the side. Glynda stood to his side, arms crossed and very clearly unhappy with... well, everything really.

"Lady Politan? What's up with that?" Roman asked, confused as to why Neo got a special title.

"Her liege wishes to see to it that you are her betrothed, which would technically make you a king and your daughter a princess," Watts explained.

"Over my dead body," Glynda growled.

"That can be arranged!" Tyrian yelled from the other room. She made to move but Roman put a hand on her shoulder.

"Easy now Glyn, he's not worth your time. I hear he has," Roman leaned in and whispered, "_problems mentally._"

She gave him a sidelong glare and he wisely sat up straight and stopped speaking.

"At any rate," Watts continued, "it would seem that due to recent... circumstances, you are to be the one giving out orders."

"Say what now?" Roman asked, falling out of the throne a little.

Watts sighed deeply, forlornly even, and held up a scroll. Not the device however, an actual written in paper scroll. He cleared his throat and read aloud.

"Upon the retrieval of one Roman Torchwick, I, Salem: Queen of Grimm and other nefarious forces, place the formerly mentioned in charge should I be unresponsive for more than one day," he lowered the scroll and looked at Roman and Glynda, "The day long period ended about fifteen minutes ago."

"Wait wait wait, I never even agreed to her advances!" Roman said, holding his hands in front of him.

"It seems our queen did not prepare for such a possibility and so this is what we have to go by. Unfortunately I witnessed it written myself," the scientist grumbled.

"When did she write such a concordance?" Glynda asked.

"Two days ago," Watts said, a blank, dead look on his face.

"So lemme get this straight," Roman said, stepping off the throne and walking towards the man, "I'm technically the ruling official until Salem says otherwise?"

Watts nodded, hunched and clearly wanting a vacation. Roman slowly turned around to Glynda, who glared at him with the heat of a thousand suns.

"No."

"Think of the possibilities!"

"No!"

"But—"

"Roman, need I remind you that we're working _with _Ozpin _against _Salem!?"

"Okay but he doesn't have to know!"

"I second that!" Hazel yelled from the other room.

Glynda barred her teeth at him and he winced.

"Not even for a day?"

She took a step towards him.

"A few hours?"

Another step. This time The Disciplinarian flew from her hip to her hand. Watts wisely stepped far away from the woman.

"Half an hour?" he pleaded. She leveled the crop at him. It was silent for a solid minute, neither saying a word, though Roman looked like he wanted to. Watts watched in awe.

This woman. She was fit to be an evil overlord! She had all the commanding presence and angry energy! How unfortunate she was so staunchly allied with Ozpin.

"Okay I have an idea," he tried instead, walking very delicately towards Glynda.

"No. No ideas. They almost always make things worse," she shot him down.

"I feel like you're gonna like this one though!" he said as he came to a stop in front of her. Her crop was practically touching his nose.

"Say it in eight or less words," she demanded. He blinked a few times, put his eyes up in thought, and then looked back to her after a few seconds.

"Think of the awesome royal sex we'd have," he said.

Watts looked away and flinched as he heard the slap echo throughout the tower. When he looked back, Glynda was red, likely a mix of rage and embarrassment, and Roman had crumpled across the floor, groaning as he slowly pulled himself up.

"Okay, I deserved that," he said. She waited for him to stand up all the way before leaning in. The scowl on her face was legendary.

"One. Hour. And sex first," she snarled. He was about to cheer when she grabbed his arm and dragged him to his room. As they passed Watts, Roman nudged him with his elbow.

"I'm about to laid!" he whispered. Watts watched the two round the corner, hearing a door slam shortly after.

Then the thumping started.

Why hadn't they invested in soundproof walls?

"WATTS WHAT IS THAT NOISE!?" Salem shouted from her freezer. Watts shivered and paled.

This wasn't going to be good. The world wouldn't survive Salem's wrath if she walked in on this.

"Nevermind! I'll just check myself!"

How could it get any worse?

Then the windows crashed and a giant swarm of nevermore flooded the tower. Through the haze Watts could hear someone screaming.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Ruby yelled as she was dragged through the halls of the tower towards wherever Salem was.

"Roman? Are you in there? What's that noise I'm heari—" there was a sharp gasp, "YOU! YOU WHORE!"

"Oh shit I thought you locked the door!"

"That's _your _job Roman!"

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU HUSSY!"

Watts listened. It sounded like the nevermores were nearing their destination.

"What's with all the birds!?" Roman shouted.

"Roman?"

"Red? What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I don't know! I was carried by this flock of strangely gentle and soft nevermore and before I knew it I ended up her— OH GOD YOU AND MS. GOODWITCH ARE NAKED!"

There was what sounded like a small girl fainting and hitting the floor, followed very shortly by a set of urgent footsteps and another small girl fainting.

Watts contemplated throwing himself from the window now or saving it for later when he'd be able to drag Cinder with him.

* * *

_Argus, one day prior_

Ruby sighed, taking in the breeze of Argus. They had arrived the other day and were currently trying to acquire a way to get to Atlas. Half of them were staying with Jaune's sister, Saphron, while the other half stayed with Qrow and Ozpin in a hotel.

They had been making good progress for a little but, but had hit a roadblock. A small, person shaped roadblock.

"I've told you all already! I am not letting anyone, especially such a rag-tag group like yours, pass into Atlas! The kingdom is on lockdown!" the small, older woman yelled from behind the gate.

"Told you everyone from Atlas was a prick," Mercury said as he leaned towards Jaune. Said blonde rolled his eyes and stepped forward.

"Please ma'am, we just need to—"

"You need to do nothing! Atlas is my kingdom! And I will not let hooligans such as yourselves to enter it!" she shouted.

They all sighed. This woman had been cock blocking them from Atlas since they'd arrived. She was small, dressed in specialist attire. Her hair was white and her face was wrinkled in places. She stood straight, an air of superiority to her, likely compensation for her lack of height.

They were all about to leave for the day and try again tomorrow, Ozpin assuring that he'd be able to get a message through to Ironwood, when a new voice chimed in.

"You always were a stone cold bitch Cordovin!" an elderly woman said from behind them. They all turned in shock at her crassness and the specialist seemed to froth at the lips upon seeing her.

"Calavera," she growled.

"In the flesh! Still alive and here to piss you off until one of us dies!" the other lady claimed. She also had white hair, but had much darker skin and wore much less formal clothes. The most striking feature she had was the set of bulky and glowing goggles on her face.

Ren stepped forward and bowed to the woman before speaking.

"Um excuse us, but we're kind of trying to get a ship to—" she covered his mouth with her cane, the head shaped like a skull, and walked past him.

"Now why don't you let me and these nice folks into Atlas, hm? After all, you're not showing how '_ahead of the world' _Atlas is if you bar people from entering. That's not very progressive, now is it?" she asked, walking right up to the gate and gazing into the other woman's eyes.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! NONE OF YOU WILL EVER GET INTO ATLAS! EVER!" she raged. She stomped a foot down and turned on her heel, marching away and into her base.

"Well, that could've gone better," the old lady said as she turned and faced them, "I thought for sure she'd crack under the pressure and let us through."

"Seriously lady!? What's wrong with you?" Mercury asked. She humphed and looked over him.

"Aren't you the kid who said the racist thing about Mistralis on the train?" she asked. His jaw clicked shit and he huffed, not answering her.

"Well, at least things can't get much worse," Melanie said. Qrow hissed upon hearing that. They all raised an eyebrow at him except for Ozpin.

"What? She's not wrong! What could get worse right now?" Miltia asked. Qrow made a zip it motion but it went unprocessed.

"Yeah seriously, things can't get any worse than this," Nora said.

There was a loud noise, like a massive amount of rain was falling and heading directly towards them. They looked around and Pyrrha pointed up.

"Um, everybody?" she notified them.

They all looked up and saw what was possibly the largest nevermore swarm any of them had ever seen. It moved like a tornado, thrashing this way and that way. It was almost like it was looking for something. They didn't look particularly large, definitely on the smaller side as far as nevermore went.

Then it stopped in place.

Then it quickly started growing closer.

"What do we do about that!?" Weiss asked. Ruby stepped forward to answer.

"We have to make sure nobody is hurt! We'll start by— AHHHH!" Ruby screamed as the swarm tore past them. They all covered themselves and took down what beasts flew into them. Soon after all of them flew away and into the air again.

"Damn, that was awful," Qrow said as he spit out a feather, "now what were you saying Rubes?"

There was no reply.

"Ruby?" he asked looking around. The others looked too. There was no sight of the girl.

"AHHHHH!" they looked up and briefly caught a glimpse of red within the swarm.

"Ah. That could be how things could get worse," Melanie said.

"RUBY!" Qrow and Yang screamed. Qrow started running, ready to transform and Chase the flock but Ozpin stuck his cane out in front of the man, stopping him. Qrow snarled down at the man-turned-child.

"What the hell Oz!? I have to go after her!" he shouted. Ozpin shook his head.

"We would only succeed in losing both of you," he said. Qrow growled and tried to move again but was stopped once more by the wizard.

"Say you catch up and somehow manage to fight the entire flock by yourself, mid air mind you, what next? You and Ms. Rose plummet several hundred meters into the ocean? We have no ship, and aren't likely to get one with that old crone blocking our way. You would only manage to drown yourselves," Ozpin reprimanded. Qrow choked and looked back to the flock, growing smaller and smaller by the second.

Qrow glared back down at Ozpin. He wouldn't admit he was right. Not if it meant letting Ruby just get taken. But even still...

"Why didn't they just kill her? They could've done it here, or from above, or dropped her. But they didn't. Which means Salem will have her, Roman, the relic, and probably Glynda and the other brat too!" Qrow heaved, "What is she doing!? Trying to build a family!?"

Ozpin froze. Qrow noticed. So did the others.

"What is it Ozpin?" Jaune asked, stepping forward. He cleared his throat.

"It's nothing," he said quickly, before looking at the back of his bare wrist, "oh, look at the time. Oscar needs to be let out. We'll all talk later, farewell for now!"

And like that the boy's eyes glowed for a moment and he hunched over a little, blinking and looking around.

"Sooo," he started, "what the hell just happened? And why is Ozpin setting up a panic chamber in my frontal lobe?"

Qrow growled.

Ozpin had some explaining to do.

* * *

_Grimmlands, present day, five minutes before doomsday_

Ruby shielded her eyes, not wanting any of the small nevermores feathers blinding her. It'd been... she actually didn't know how long it'd been. She passed out after an hour of kicking the birds, but every time one fell two more took its place. She couldn't use Crescent Rose due to the tight sphere the birds had made around her, which also made jumping (which she didn't want to do in the first place) unavailable.

She couldn't even see where they were! For all she knew they were carrying her to a bigger, momma nevermore! What was she supposed to do?

_I always thought I'd die in a more... spectacular or heroic way._

This wasn't spectacular at all! And it sure as hell wasn't heroic! This was a lame death!

She heard what sounded like pecking at... a window? Were they at someone's house? Why were they at a house?

After a few more pecks the birds squawked to each other before ramming their way into the building. Now they were carrying her in a stream, and she could finally see again.

Why did it look like she was in a castle? And who was that science-y looking guy she just passed? And why'd he look so defeated?

None of these questions were answered when the birds carried her into a room down the hall, placing her— yes placing, they all grabbed a different part of her body and quite literally stood her up like a princess from one of those kids movies— before flying out of the room.

"What's with all the birds!?" somebody shouted. It sounded like...

"Roman?"

"Red? What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I don't know! I was carried by this flock of strangely gentle and soft nevermore and before I knew it I ended up her— OH GOD YOU AND MS. GOODWITCH ARE NAKED!"

Ruby suppressed the urge to vomit, not prepared, or ever expecting, to see her former teachers doing _that _before her very eyes. She collapsed shortly after.

As her vision faded she swore she saw Neo burst into the room. The girl looked past her and to the two lovers. She fell down immediately, her head crashing onto Ruby's spine.

Both of them faded into unconsciousness. Roman cursed the lucky bastards. Now he had to deal with this alone.

"Roman!? How could you!?" Salem cried, looking at him hurt before snapping to Glynda with a face of murder, "And with _her _of all people!? Did this happen while I was having family time with our daughter!?"

"_Our _daughter?" Glynda asked, sitting up in the bed and glaring at the woman.

"Wait a minute, she's really only _my _dau—"

The glare he received from both women would've killed a weaker man. He was lucky he'd just been put in a catatonic state of pure fear.

"Last time I checked, _you _didn't give her what she asked for! I gave her sustenance! And her girlfriend!" Salem raved.

"I picked out her dog!" Glynda said, jabbing a finger at Chew, who had only just trotted up to the door before freezing at seeing the deathly aura emanating off of the two women.

A massive alpha beowolf walked up behind him and he turned and barked to the Grimm in a short series of three.

The Grimm looked in, shrunk back, and the two dogs took off down the hallway.

"Don't use our family pet against us!" Salem sneered. Glynda scoffed, throwing her hair— that had been taken out of a bun for love making purposes— over her shoulder. Her breasts shook as she did, free from any form of bra or support by this point. Salem noticed and glared more.

"Hmph, well I can offer him more than your feeble mortal body and mind are capable of," Salem said as she slowly strode forwards, reaching up and taking out her intricate bun. Her hair fell free, looking very similar to Glynda's but for the color.

"Please," Glynda smirked haughtily, "you may have experience with men but I have experience with him. We are leagues apart."

Salem hissed as she took a fold of each half of her dress from the front before angrily tearing her hands away from each other, spilling her own ample cleavage out.

Glynda's smirk disappeared and it was her turn to glare.

"Jealous are we?" Salem had a smug, triumphant look on her face, "Wait until he sees these hips in action."

Salem sat on Roman's left, while Glynda still lay at his right. Glynda flicked her arm out and Ruby and Neo's unconscious forms flew out of the room and directly into an incoming Watts. The door slammed shut and locked shortly after. Salem wouldn't deny that such a skill was impressive.

At this time did Roman's mind choose to reboot.

"What happened? Wait where's Neo and Red? And what—"

He looked to his left, blinked, looked right, blinked again, and then did what anyone would do when confronted with the situation.

"Bwahuh?" was all his mind managed to get out.

"Are you ready to lose in the fight that matters most?" Salem asked, slowly caressing her hand up his arm and leaning in towards his ear.

"Are you ready to eat your words?" Glynda returned, lost in the heat of the moment as she leaned in towards Roman's neck, her hand feeling across his midriff.

"You're less of a stick-in-the-ass than I thought," Salem smirked, for once not in contempt.

"Hmph," Glynda blushed a little and offered nothing more.

"Wait ladies, this is great and all but don't I get a say in thi—" before he could continue both women moved.

Salem bit his ear.

Glynda bit his neck.

Both of their hands found their way directly onto his crotch.

"Ah," he said eloquently.

Ah indeed Roman.

Then the real fucking began.

* * *

Qrow jolted upright from his sleep. He looked around and blinked a few times. It wasn't because he was worrying about Ruby though.

He suddenly got the inexplicable urge to to beat the shit out of Roman.

"What did that bastard manage this time?" he grumbled as he slowly returned to the world of slumber.

* * *

Neo slowly woke up, eyes flitting as she shuffled around. Whatever she was on was pretty soft and warm. She swore she did this already...

"Neo?" Ruby mumbled. Neo blinked. Talk about deja vu. Wait a minute, Ruby?

Neo turned and saw the reaper looking at her. The younger girl smiled.

"Surprise?" she tried. Neo smirked and gave the girl a little peck. She blushed and pushed her face away.

"You smell like an entire ice cream store. Did you get drunk and raid another one like that one time with the twins and Yang?" she asked. Neo rolled her eyes.

You get trashed and demolish an ice cream shop _once _and your girlfriend won't let it go for the rest of your life!

_It's a long story, _Neo told instead. Ruby sighed and sat up.

"I can't remember why we were asleep. Or how long we were asleep. Or where I actually am for that matter," Ruby rattled off, looking her way.

_I don't know why we're asleep either. It's like my brain has blanked it for some reason, _Neo said.

_As for where we are..._

One convoluted explanation later and Ruby had her head in her hands and was groaning.

"Why?" was all she could truly ask. Other alternatives were 'how?' or 'what the fuck?' but they didn't come out as easily as 'why' did.

_Guess she was lonely, _Neo said, playing with her fingers. Ruby gave her an incredulous look.

"What?" she asked. Neo forgot that only she really knew about the fact that Salem did, apparently, have a family once. And not only that, but that it didn't go all that well.

_Well apparently she had a husband and like four kids and she and the husband got into a fight and she lost all of them, _Neo gave her the cliff notes version. Ruby looked a little sad. Leave it to Ruby to feel bad for the embodiment of evil.

"That's pretty messed up actually," she said. Neo nodded. The husband sounded like a real asshole!

"So where are Roman and Ms. Goodwitch?" Ruby asked.

"I really wouldn't go looking for them if I were you. Her grace, either, actually," a man said from the doorway. They both looked over and saw Watts leaning against the doorframe, hands rubbing his temples gently.

"And you are?" Ruby trailed off. He blinked and groaned but composed himself and turned to her, bowing only slightly.

"Arthur Watts, a pleasure," he said.

"Oh. Ruby Rose. I... like your mustache," she replied.

He seemed to lighten a little at that, but quickly caught his smile and coughed into his hand to hide it.

"So why can't we see Roman or Ms. Goodwitch or... her grace?" Ruby asked. He looked to the side before clearing his throat.

"They are currently discussing something very important," he stated, looking pained to call it that.

The three actually occupied a room down the hall.

In this room, Roman was laid against the headboard of a very well used bed. His eyes were open in what many would assume was shock, but was in fact sensory overload.

"I see... you're still not giving up... perhaps— _mmph, _I misjudged you," Salem panted, nevermind you why.

"I believe... I was quick to label you as we— _oh god keep doing that with your tongue!_" Glynda replied.

Roman had to wonder when the two women had started making love _with each other _while still somehow trying to show the other up by making love to him.

"Ladies... please... I need a break," he wheezed, drained in... many, many ways. Emotionally, physically, mentally, you name it.

He really never expected this to be what made the two get along. If he was being honest, the rational part of him was happy. They weren't fighting anymore!

The logical part of his brain had to ask if it was worth never wanting to have sex again.

Who was he kidding.

He'd _absolutely _do this again.

He just knew for a fact that it was bad for him.

"Roman dear... just let us handle this... you need not worry about— _OH BY THE BROTHERS DIVINE COCK AND BALLS, YES!_" Salem moaned out as Glynda did that thing with her finger. She fell forward and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I agree Roman... besides, this has been really good... for bonding," Glynda said as she joined Salem and pressed her entire body along Roman's.

"B-bonding?" he asked. What did they mean by that? He'd practically blacked out for a majority of the time!

"Well I was thinking," Salem breathed out, her breath tickling his neck, "That if you were to be king, it isn't _irregular _for a king to have mistresses."

"Huh?" he asked. Glynda still had a glare, but in their sex-addled haze it was more of a pout.

"I loathe being called that, but I won't deny the absolute, mind-blowing orgasms that I've had in the last seven hours."

Seven hours!? They'd been going at it for that long!? How did he even have a penis anymore!? He needed at least an hour to recharge!

"Wait, you said that I couldn't be king!" he accused the blonde.

"But Roman," she looked at him with, what he believed was the first time ever, a begging look, "This could be a regular thing."

"Since when were you okay with this being a regular thing? I thought that you didn't want to share?" he asked.

"But Roman, you know what they say," Salem said in a husky voice as she lay a grip on his groin, "_sharing is caring._"

Glynda leaned in and ran a hand down his jawline.

"Now let us care for you some more," she whispered as she sunk below the sheets. Salem soon followed.

His eyes widened in shock when he felt both of their tongues at once.

"Okay, _maybe _I'll think about it," he said.

They only intensified their efforts after hearing that.

* * *

Mercury stood at the gates of the Atlesian base in Argus, hands against the metal and looking down casually at the old lady in front of him.

"Do you take bribes?" he asked her.

"No."

"What about _human _bribes. Like if I gave you a small child or something?"

"Are you suggesting selling me someone else's child!?" Cordovin spat. He shrugged.

"The family I'm staying with has a son. Cute kid, Adrian I think is his name..." he told her.

"Leave before I have you arrested!" she demanded. He shrugged again.

"Who's gonna do it?" he asked.

"My own soldiers will see to it that you're detained," she replied.

"Don't you have to open the gate for that?" he asked.

"I—" she paused. Yes, she did as a matter of fact. But that meant giving them access to the base if she did.

"So who's gonna do it?" he smirked as he crouched down to her level. She growled. Was he mocking her!? Height went down with old age!

"Guards! Arrest him!" Ashe ordered. Mercury looked up to the two strangely shaped guards behind the woman. He gave them a little wave.

"Uhhh," one scratched his chin, "how?"

She groaned and pointed to the lever.

"Open the gate, but only just a little! Don't let any of the rest of them through..." she said, gazing at the others all stood behind Mercury.

Meanwhile, Qrow leaned over to the others and spoke quietly.

"Wow, he's actually getting her to open the gate by being an absolute tool," he said, amused by the assassin's display.

"That's Mercury for you," Yang said as she put a hand on her hip and watched the two large guards open the gate a little bit.

"Alright, come get me," Mercury said, standing back up and putting his arms out.

The two guards moved forward but bumped into the gate. The opening they made wasn't large enough for them to fit through, only for Mercury to fit through.

"Open it more you numbskulls!" Cordovin stamped her foot down. They opened it a little more.

Mercury made a slight step towards the opening.

"Close it! Close it!" she yelled back. The gate closed all the way. She growled.

"Not all the way! Just a little! Open it a little again!" she commanded.

They did so. It was too small again. The specialist groaned and nearly fell over. Mercury suppressed a laugh.

"So when do I get detained?" he asked. She looked like she was ready to shoot him if he kept talking.

"Why don't I just come peacefully?" he said, walking up to the opening. The guards tried closing it.

But it didn't close all the way.

"What!?" Cordovin looked at the gate. The mechanisms all looked fine, repeated use wouldn't break it so what was—

She curled up in rage.

The boy's foot, as if made of steel or something, was stuck right between the gate, holding it open. By all means it should've broken his foot, but he just smiled as he crouched down again.

"Here's a good plan," he said loudly. She raised an eyebrow at him. Why did he shout that?

"NOW!" he yelled. Before she could reply, the group dashed forward. Yang and Nora both grabbed a side of the gate while Pyrrha used her semblance and they pried it open.

With no locking mechanism in place due to the assassin holding it open, the gate moved easily under their force.

They all dashed past her and shoulder checked soldiers and guards as they hightailed it into a bullhead.

Cordovin blinked.

What?

WHAT!?

"Wow, that was some plan they scraped together," Maria said as she waltzed past the gate and the specialist. Cordovin slowly turned her gaze to the other old woman, who looked at her as she climbed into the bullhead.

"These nice young folk said they'd help me get to Atlas! Fancy that, huh?" the woman said as she boarded.

As if finally snapping, Cordovin pointed at the bullhead.

"DESTROY THEM!" she shrieked. The soldiers all scrambled to try but we're unable to actually do anything when the ship started hovering. They started shooting at the ship but their bullets froze in place. Pyrrha leaned out the door and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry about your bullets!" she called. Jaune pulled her back in quickly as Nora leaned out.

"No she's not! FUCK YOUR BULLETS!" the ginger screamed before being hauled back in by Ren.

"Ready the Colossus! We will not let them get to Atlas!" Cordovin ordered. They all saluted and ran to their stations. The specialist stomped her way to the cockpit.

Up in the air, Qrow sighed. He watched the old lady pilot the ship and winced every time it bumped.

The only reason they'd actually brought her along was because none of them knew how to fly a ship. Roman was their best for that and he was gone, and after him Glynda was the only other person to know.

So when this old lady said she'd do it for free? They wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Are you sure you're fit to fly granny?" Mercury asked the woman. He sat in the passenger seat, the others all in the hull of the ship.

"Oh hush you little bastard! I can fly with my eyes closed! Provided I actually had eyes," she responded.

That didn't make him feel better.

Neither did what he saw out the front window.

"Uh, guys?" he called them. They crowded the cockpit and looked out. They were left aghast.

"Holy mother of God," Oscar mumbled.

Before them stood an absolutely gigantic mech, stocky and rectangular in its form but imposing nonetheless. One hand was in a fist, balled and ready to swing, while the other arm was a giant cannon.

A cannon that was aimed directly at them.

"AHHHH! MOVE IT OLD LADY!" Mercury screamed. Maria huffed and the ship dropped almost immediately. A blast of lightning flew overhead as they fell.

"SHE'S TRYING TO KILL US!" Melanie shouted.

"Will you all stop shouting!? You'll make my tinnitus worse at this rate!" Maria demanded.

They all went to the hull with the exception of Mercury to let the woman breathe.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked. They all held on as the ship dipped to and fro, dodging blasts.

"Well," Miltia started, "we could always just leave."

They all remained silent. Blake walked back to the cockpit.

"Do you think that you can fly well enough to avoid that thing until the waters are too deep for it to stand?" she asked. Maria hummed as the ship banked right, another shot of lighting streaking past.

"Yes but I'll need help and it will most definitely put your lives in danger," she said nonchalantly. They all looked to one another and shrugged. They were used to that kind of stuff.

The back door to the bullhead opened and Maria started giving them orders.

"You lot! Tell me which way to steer! Mess up and we go down! Understood?" she asked sweetly, like a grandmother asking for help with baking.

"Aye aye granny!" Nora said with a salute.

"Left!" Qrow shouted. The ship veered left and the blast flew by.

"It's starting to chase on foot! Go low!" Jaune shouted. The ship dipped and a giant fist swung over them.

"Right! RIGHT!" Nora yelled. Another shot flew by, this one exploding in the water and sending a huge wave of mist around them.

"I can't see through the mist!" Pyrrha said. They heard what sounded like something locking into place and then a loud whirring.

"JUST GO ANY DIRECTION BUT STRAIGHT!" Melanie yelled urgently.

"If you say so," Maria said.

So she flew straight up.

"AHHHH! A LITTLE WARNING!?" Oscar asked as they all grabbed onto something to keep from flying out the still open back of the bullhead.

It leveled out shortly after and they all stood again.

"We're still alive aren't we? Now where is she?" Maria asked. They checked again.

"Uh, right below us," Miltia said.

And it looked like she'd lost them.

"_AAAAAAARGH! CALAVERA!" _the machine's loudspeakers rang. Maria cackled hysterically. Mercury scooted away a little bit.

"That old crone couldn't hit the broadside of a Sandwyrm! And I've watched some young man in Vacuo take one of those things down on his own years back! On a bet no less! Fancy that," she laughed.

"Wait, did this guy do it for like sixty lien?" Mercury asked. She hummed.

"I think he did actually! I also watched him fight the ocean! And win! Wonder what he's doing these days," she wondered aloud. Mercury, the twins, Weiss, Yang, and Blake all sighed.

Torchwick seemed to have a reputation everywhere they went.

"Next stop Atlas!" Maria said, closing the back hatch of the bullhead. Behind and below them, the Atlesian Colossus turned this way and that looking for them.

Eventually it'd give up and report to General Ironwood. He would have it shot down when it arrived.

Cordovin just wished she could do it herself.

* * *

Ironwood sighed as he viewed the report he'd just received. It was from their base in Argus. Apparently some colorful group of assorted individuals had hijacked a bullhead and we're supposedly headed towards Atlas.

From the description he was given it sounded like Qrow and a group of former students. Weiss Schnee was included in the description which only solidified that theory.

Winter wouldn't be pleased that her sister had committed such a crime.

He would fail to mention it to her. After all, the message he was currently writing and planning to send to Argus was supposed to be done two days from now, telling specialist Cordovin to allow Qrow Branwen and any allies he had through to Atlas. Alas, it looked like they were impatient and unwilling to wait much longer.

He'd have a word with Qrow about that. Not anything serious. After all, he wasn't mad. That meant that Qrow was alive and on his way with other trained fighters.

He'd take what he could get. He pressed a switch on his desk.

"General Ironwood, sir," Winter saluted.

"Winter, has Dr. Polendina finished his routine maintenance for the month?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she affirmed. He smiled. His eyes were tired but at least he had received good news for the day.

"Good. We need Penny back in action as soon as possible," he said. She said she'd tell him right away. Ironwood dismissed her and he looked out his window.

"Let's hope things will change soon," he said solemnly. After all, he had a plan.

A plan to tell all of Remnant about Salem. Maybe then they'd be able to take her down.

* * *

Roman's nose twitched a little as he buttoned his jacket up. Odd, it felt like something was about to go horribly wrong. He shrugged it off, right now he was in a good mood.

"Glynda, be a dear and pass me those hair ties," Salem asked. The disciplinarian levitated a few of them over and Salem took them with a thanks.

It was amazing how mind blowing sex could make two people immediately get along. There's no way this decision would bite him in the ass!

So why did his nose still itch?

He'd figure it out later, right now he wanted to check on Neo. Glynda was currently helping Salem tie her hair into her incredibly strange and complicated bun.

He left the room and saw Watts. Upon asking the man where his daughter was the scientist pointed to the room he'd carried her to after she and Ruby had passed out.

Watts told him that maybe now wasn't a good time to visit but wouldn't tell Roman why. Roman waved it off. He was allowed to visit his daughter if he felt like it!

Roman walked over and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again. Still nothing. He looked around and was surprised to see Chew sleeping on a few pillows outside of the room.

That was weird, normally Neo forced the dog to stay with her.

He shrugged and opened the door. Maybe she was just sleeping and didn't want to get up—

"OH MY GOD!" he screamed as the blankets rustled and Neo's head popped up. She went very pale before she went very red and slapped Ruby who was beneath her. She moved her hands frantically.

"I thought you locked the door!" Ruby said back. Neo gave her a look and she shrugged.

They heard a thing and looked over to see Roman had passed out.

Why did that feel so familiar?

"Chew! Can you help out?" Ruby asked. The fog came and gently bit down on Roman's pant leg before dragging the unconscious man back to his room. Neo ran over and slammed to door shut, actually locking it this time. She turned and glared at Ruby, standing with her hands on her hips, completely naked but seemingly unashamed to be baring herself to the other girl.

"Eh heh heh... heh... oopsies?" Ruby tried. Neo started walking forward, a dangerous look coming to her eyes.

Ruby had a feeling her turn being top was done for the day.

* * *

**And I think I'll spare all of our eyes there. Lord knows I wasn't writing these scenes for the sex.**

**I was writing them for the laughs. The best kind of sex.**

**To all my reviewers who were asking me to make all those three bone; you are welcome.**

**At any rate, this chapter is effectively the end of what would have been season 6. Season seven probably won't even happen remotely the same considering the fact that Roman went and stuck his dick in evil.**

**As for the Argus arc, I'll be honest; it wasn't my favorite in the show. I didn't wanna dwell too much on it so I didn't. Sue me. Or don't. You do you really.**

**As always please review and follow if you want to see more. I greatly appreciate it. Do be safe out there and stay healthy everyone! Have a wonderful time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Young Neo and Roman**

Roman looked at the pair of gloves he got. They were high quality, nice material, and they definitely made the outfit look good, just like he'd assumed.

He looked down to Neo, who was now about ten. He hummed.

"Neo I think it's time we got you a real thief's outfit!" he said. Right now she wore the kind of stuff a civvy would wear. She needed to look as dashing as he did!

She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

_Do I have to wear a skirt? _she asked, not looking too happy at the thought. He laughed.

"Only if it looks right Neo! That's the beauty of fashion!" he said. She rolled her eyes but let him take her around town for clothes regardless.

Most men loathe the idea of clothes shopping with a woman. They say that it drains their life force.

Neo understood what those men meant. In this case though, she was the man and Roman was the woman dragging her around.

Never in her life had she met a man who was so fashionably inclined. Every store they went to he would pick out sevm or so outfits, only to not buy a single one!

At one store he even had three random women come and look over her with him! He somehow managed to sound the most scrutinizing out of all of them too.

At another store she found a green outfit she really liked but he told her that thieves don't wear green unless they wear tights and traipse through the woods like a fairytale.

By the end of the day they had exactly... zero outfits. Neo was exhausted, hungry, and truly never wanted to see a clothing store again.

"Well, we'll have to try again tomorrow," Roman said as he strolled into their temporary home.

She collapsed where she stood, the prospect of being dragged through that hell again too much for her young brain.

"Oh don't be like that Neo! Fashion is a language of its own! Learning to speak it is an important part of any good thief's life!" Roman said. That somehow made her feel worse.

Little did she know, they'd be looking for an outfit for the next _four years_ and she would be saved when Roman finally found the one.

"Neo! Look at this!" he called. Now she was fourteen, and was likely done growing up considering she'd stayed the same height for two and half years now.

She pouted when Roman told her being short made stealing easier. That wasn't the point! She still looked like a damn kid!

She came over and looked to the outfit, eyes widening in pleasant surprise for the first time.

The outfit looked good. A brown leotard and a white and pink jacket over it. The pants were brown as well and the boots were knee high and white.

It looked exactly like something she'd wear. Too much so.

_How'd you get this? _she asked Roman. He laughed.

"I have my connections. Didn't even have to bribe anyone for it," he smirked. She ran her hand along it. It was soft, and she wondered how it'd look with all her necklaces.

"Well go on, try it on! I didn't get it for you to stare," he said. She stuck her tongue out at him and he did the same. She took the outfit aside and tried it on.

When she came out she looked in the mirror. It was perfect! She felt like she belonged in these clothes. Roman noticed her smile.

"Glad you like it, now come on. You'll have a chance to debut it to the public soon enough," he said. She nodded and ran up to him, hugging him around the waist. He laughed and pet her head.

"No problem kiddo," he said. They separated and left the store.

In the back, a tailor counted the lien he'd been given. It was... a concerning amount. And it came in a briefcase that looked like it belonged to a bank. Not only that but the lien looked like... game money?

A paint bomb in the case went off and the tailor screamed.

The police showed up and found the scene. Looked like Torchwick's work. They sighed but in the end shrugged off the thief's crime.

He probably wouldn't make it far in Vale.


	26. Chapter 26

**Good morning, afternoon, or evening! I hope you're all well and that the cabin fever is being kept at bay. Remember to stay healthy!**

**If you haven't seen any of volume 7 yet, then the coming chapters might go over your head, so be warned!**

**I'll see you guys at the bottom!**

* * *

Mercury wouldn't admit to a lot in life. He would never tell any of the gang that he didn't mind their presence or tell Roman that he was a better father figure than his real dad. He'd never say that Jaune and Ren weren't pretty okay to chill with or tell Neo that he saw her as an actual friend.

He would add to that list by never admitting to the high pitched scream that left his mouth when he looked out the window and saw the entire Atlas Armada awaiting them when they arrived.

That didn't change the fact that it scared the absolute shit out of him.

At the very least, he wasn't alone.

"Holy hell that's a lot of guns being pointed at us," Miltia said as she and the others stared at the fleet surrounding Atlas. From every angle the floating city was being patrolled by airships, some standard sized and flying around the city or certain spots, others giant and floating in place, ready to shoot anything and everything out of the sky.

It looked like they were preparing for war.

"So how do we get into Atlas when there's a wall of ships in our way?" Melanie asked.

"We could always go through it?" Nora suggested. They all gave her a look and she shrugged.

"Just sayin."

"Regardless," Qrow said, "we need to get to Atlas. Can we land in Mantle and fly up?"

Maria hummed. She was about to respond when the radio went off.

"_Excuse me; you are piloting an unauthorized ship in Atlas airspace. You have two minutes to confirm your status before you are grounded,_" a woman said. They all looked to the old woman and she shrugged.

"Well we don't have the ability to do that so it looks like we're going to Mantle!" she said, immediately pulling back on the steering wheel, sending the ship careening down rapidly. As they were all standing, everyone except for Mercury and Maria were sent flying backwards, crashing at the back of the ship as it nosedived.

"Brace for impact!" she laughed. They all grabbed something, Ren muttered his will, ready to see his parents again, before the ship tore its way down an alley, losing pieces as it scraped along the concrete.

It crashed through two dumpsters and carved through a parked car, bumping the buildings on either side and sending Sparks flying to and fro. It finally stopped when it lost speed and gently tapped the side of a bakery.

It promptly caught fire after that.

They all scrambled out and ran down the alley, none of them looking back, not even when they heard the ship explode. As they rounded the corner they hugged the wall and held their breath. Maria just walked slowly over and stopped in front of them.

"We made it to Atlas!" she said jovially. Mercury gagged before running to a nearby trashcan and throwing up.

"Oh don't be such a baby! That was one of my smoothest landings in years!" the retired huntress laughed. The others shivered. What did her bad landings look like?

They all gave a collective sigh of relief. At the very least they had made it. It had been a rough path here but they were here.

Sadly it came at the realization that they numbered four people less than when they began.

"So how do we get up to Atlas?" Yang asked. Weiss hummed.

"There should be a transport shuttle that can get us there. If I remember correctly they're normally located on the ends of the—"

"We don't need to take those slow things! I have a friend who can get you to Atlas in no time!" Maria claimed as she started walking away.

"What!? Wait, we're not following you anymore! We all got to Atlas so we can part ways now," Mercury said as he finally righted himself again. The lady shrugged.

"Oh I'm sorry, do _you _know how to get to Atlas?" she hummed.

"No but apparently Ice Queen does—"

"Ah! But those shuttles won't be running during lockdown like this! So how do you all plan on getting up there, hm?_

They all remained silent before they turned to Qrow. He shrugged in a 'don't ask me' way and they all turned to Oscar instead.

He shook his head. Ozpin was still fortifying himself away from whatever had him so scared. Oscar could very, incredibly faintly see... a family portrait?

At any rate they didn't have any options and they all groaned. Qrow chuckled.

"Looks like we're sticking with you granny," Qrow said. She humphed.

"Damn right, you spoiled bitches. I know my way around a city or two," she said, turning and walking confidently down the street.

They all followed, with no better leads on how to get to Atlas from Mantle. They arrived at a back alley and were ushered in quickly by Maria. When she closed the door behind her they all took a moment to look around the space they'd been brought to.

It looked like somebody's home mixed with a tech department. It was a big difference compared to the rather dull exterior of Mantle. They heard someone coming and turned.

An older man sat in front of them. He had dark skin and white hair as well as a beard and glasses. He wore a scally cap and vest.

Most notably he sat in a chair that moved with bionic legs.

"Maria! You brought company I see," he said.

"My apologies Doctor, I would've warned you but I didn't get the chance, what with some minor turbulence we went through," Maria said sweetly. They all paled. Minor turbulence? They crashed in an alley and then the ship exploded!

"Well don't worry about it. Friends of yours are probably respectable enough," he claimed.

"You should see the silver haired one, he's like you! Doofus! Show him your legs!" Maria said. When he raised an eyebrow and looked towards Mercury, the assassin shrugged. He reached down and rolled up a pant leg, showing off his prosthetics. The doctor hummed in fasciation.

"You'll have to tell me how they work. I specialize in bionics, made this chair myself, and I designed and do the maintenance for Maria's eyes," he explained. The others were mildly surprised. That was an impressive resume.

"Ah, I have a daughter around your age as well, but she's out right now," he said. Maria stamped her foot down and said they'd have time for that later.

" Enough of that Pietro! These things have been needing a tune-up for weeks now!" she said, pointing to her eyes. Pietro chuckled and ushered her to another room.

As they all looked around Yang looked out the window and up at the moon. She hoped Ruby was doing okay right now.

Or that she was alive at the very least.

* * *

Ruby watched with nothing but confusion on her face as Roman paced the throne room of Salem's tower.

Salem sat upon her throne, relaxed and looking content. Glynda sat to her left at the end of the long meeting table. Ruby and Chew sat beside Glynda while the seat across from her and to Salem's right was meant for Roman and Neo. Neo was currently scanning the relic of knowledge, attempting to appraise it to see how much they could pawn it off for. Roman left his seat vacant however.

He was instead pacing and rambling. Now Roman roaming wasn't a bad thing, or even confusing in and of itself. It's what he was talking about that confused her.

"...and if the city is really floating freely as you say, why don't we just get a really big Grimm and pull the city here! Nobody dies, you get the relic, and I get to say I am truly the greatest thief in all known _history _for stealing an entire city!" he finished, looking back to the other occupants of the room.

"Any questions?" he asked. Ruby raised her hand.

"We're not in classes Red, you can just ask," he deadpanned. She let out a little 'oh' before continuing.

"Aren't we supposed to be... stopping these guys from stealing the relic and destroying the world? No offense to you guys," Ruby pointed out. None of them looked too offended in the first place.

"Oh young, silver eyed warrior, I don't care about destroying anything," Salem said as she stood up, "I just don't want Ozpin to have them or he'll _really _fuck things up around here. Whether he means to or not."

Ruby looked more confused and slowly raised her hand again. Roman just sighed and pointed at her again.

"What happens when Ozpin gets all the relics and maidens together?" she asked. Roman looked to Salem, also not really knowing. She sighed and waved her hand around.

"If all the relics come together then the gods of this world will come down and judge humanity. If they don't like what they see; i.e me, then they'll destroy the planet," she said as though it was the most boring news she could recount.

The others just stared at her silently.

"What?" Glynda asked, thoroughly confounded.

"Exactly as I said," Salem repeated, "should the relics come together we will all die. My goal is just to make sure they never have the chance of being reunited."

Neo slowly looked to Roman, who was frozen in shock. As he looked back to her she could practically hear his body creaking as his muscles remained stiff. Her face said it all.

_Look what you got us into!_

His seemed to scream back.

_I didn't sign up for this!_

They both turned back to Salem, who was now sipping tea daintily out of an ornate cup.

"I understand this might seem shocking to you, but rest assured that I do not plan to let all of Remnant die... again," she added very quickly at the end.

"Okay, okay, I think you owe us an explanation," Roman said, finally sitting again and staring at the woman. She grimaced and placed her tea upon a Seer, which floated away.

"I... suppose you all should know the truth," she said as she set her gaze among them.

"My queen! Truly you don't intend to let these, these, outsiders in so easily?" Tyrian asked as he leaned across the table, "Please my goddess, I beg you to reconsider!"

Salem rolled her eyes and started to tell them anyways.

"Long ago, before even faunus, aura, or even dust, there was a beautiful woman trapped in a tower by her father," she began.

"Why was she trapped?" Ruby asked. Salem hummed.

"I never quite figured that out myself," she said. The four blinked.

"You wha?" Roman asked. She laughed into her hand.

"That woman was me. And I can only assume my father didn't want me to become tainted by the outside world. I assume since you know of me, that old fool has told you all about magic's existence?"

They nodded. She hummed. That made this slightly easier.

"Well, that old fool, my father that is, didn't prepare for a brave knight to traverse the tower and rescue the maiden within," she smiled bitterly, as if remembering something that no longer brought joy.

"That knight went by the name of Ozma, and he was as valiant as they came. Sadly he was taken from me by an awful sickness," she said, actually appearing quite sad at the memory.

"Oz... ma?" Roman asked. She nodded.

"My husband at the time," she sighed. Roman and Glynda sputtered.

"You were married?" Glynda asked incredulously. Salem laughed.

"Surprised? You've both seen what I can do," she hummed, Roman tugged his collar and Glynda flushed a little, "besides, this was before I looked how I do now."

"So how'd this happen then?" Roman asked, gesturing to her entire person out of curiosity.

"What the history books have never seems to find is that this world was once ruled by the brother gods of lift and dark, beings of immeasurable power," she went in to tell them about her efforts to bring her beloved back, their refusal, her attempt at persuading the god of darkness to help, only for her to be cursed with immortality.

She continued with her plan to turn the world against the gods and how they cursed her yet again by leaving her alone and shattering the moon. She told of how she tried killing herself in the pools of darkness, only to become even more tainted by the gods powers. Roman cut in here.

"Wow, these two sure sound like assholes to me. I mean, I'm sure that's blasphemy or something but really, killing the whole planet? How is that a solution!?" he asked. Glynda nodded along. It seemed excessive for sure.

Salem laughed.

"You do not understand how good it feels to hear someone other than me say that," she sighed happily.

"So what happened next?" Glynda asked, "After you became immortal what inspired such a change in ethics?"

Glynda was of course asking how Salem became an evil overlord of darkness. The ancient woman hummed as she cupped her cheek with her hand.

"The god of light seemed to be having cold feet on his decision to wipe out humanity," Salem started back up, "so he made a deal. With Ozma."

Roman raised an eyebrow.

"He made a deal with your dead husband?" he clarified. She nodded and rolled her eyes.

"I assume you can guess who my husband is?"

"Ozpin," Glynda proposed. Salem nodded and Roman rubbed his temples. This would be a hard one to explain when they met back up.

Neo gasped slightly and they looked at her. Neo just stared at Salem and tilted her head. When the woman nodded Neo glared and crossed her arms in a humph.

"Why is she doing that?" Roman asked, looking between the two. Ruby quickly rushed to fill him in, wanting to be helpful.

"Apparently Salem and her husband had a fight and it killed their kids," Ruby said nonchalantly.

The table was completely silent and Ruby looked around before realizing what she had actually said. She quickly turned to the queen of Grimm.

"I'm sorry!" she said, looking terrified for her life and embarrassed all the same. Neo just gave her a look of disappointment.

Salem sighed and waved it off.

"It was going to be said eventually I suppose. Likely much less blatantly but that matters not now," the woman said. Ruby flushed more and played with the hem of her skirt.

"So what? You and Oz have been fighting over these maidens and relics for thousands of years?" Roman asked. She tilted her head back and forth before nodding.

"That about sums it up, yes," she said. Roman leaned back and blew out. That this didn't completely blow his mind said a lot about what he'd seen the last year or so.

"So your plan is to gather the relics so that Ozpin doesn't accidentally kill the whole planet again?" Glynda asked.

"More or less. That wise-ass doesn't realize how bad it will be if he brings those foolish gods back to Remnant. So long as I'm still here they will keep killing the people of this world," Salem growled. Roman was beginning to understand atheists now. These gods sounded like the kind of guys he'd want to kick in the balls.

"So how do we get through to Ozpin and tell him not to bring the relics together?" Glynda asked.

"Last I was with them they were still in Argus, but I don't know if they ever got to Atlas or not," Ruby informed them. Hazel growled.

"I see no reason to try and deal with Ozpin. It would be better if we just hid the relics from him and made him search for them instead," the giant spoke. Roman rubbed his chin.

"As easy as that sounds, I think Ozpin has more time than almost anyone at this table to figure out where the relics would be hidden. Plus Red had a point; we have no idea if they made it to Atlas or not," the thief said. Watts cleared his throat.

"I think there's a simple solution to that," he said, eying the lantern within Neo's hands. She looked down at it quizzically and raised an eyebrow.

"What's it do?" Roman asked.

"The relic of knowledge is capable of answering any question you may have," Salem explained. Roman looked at the lamp. This thing was capable of that? How?

"So how do we... ya know, make it work?" he asked. Salem shrugged.

"I don't know. I know an ancient and powerful spirit resides within but you need to say their name and I do not know it. Only Ozma does," she sighed. Roman looked at it.

"So there's a genie in there?" he asked.

"More or less," Cinder groaned, a headache forming from being in proximity to the oaf her master had fallen for.

"Well what are genie names? C'mon people, we can figure this out," he said as he took it and inspected it.

"What about Genie!?" Tyrian asked. Roman scoffed.

"As if! That'd be like naming it Djinn!" he said.

Suddenly everything seemed to slow down, and the fire coming off the torches in the room froze in place.

The relic began glowing before a blue haze filled the room. They all covered their eyes as a bright light shone from the lamp. Roman coughed, waving a hand in front of him to rid the smoke from his face.

He looked up and saw a giant pair of boobs right in front of his face.

"Whoa," he let out. Glynda flew across the table and slapped a hand over his eyes in an instant. Salem growled as well.

"Hrrngh," the feminine figure groaned as she stretched wide. She blinked and looked around before zeroing in on Roman.

"Ah, hello. You're not Ozma..." she said, floating down and observing the crook. He finally managed to pry Glynda off of him before looking back at the genie.

She was a light blue color and had golden chains and jewelry adorning her every feature. Her hair flowed as if in constant motion and her legs were surrounded by a mist that hid them from view.

She was also very, very naked.

Neo got a nosebleed, but was quickly drop-kicked by a jealous Ruby.

"Roman Torchwick. World renown thief and voted Vale's second most attractive man two years in a row," she paused for a moment, "and _the _most attractive man last year. Congratulations."

"Thanks?" he said. Glynda and Salem were still glaring at him so blinked and shook his head.

"No thanks are necessary. I am simply stating facts," she said before continuing, "I am Jinn, the spirit created by the god of light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge, and there are two questions remaining this century."

They all stared at her and blinked. She hummed.

"You all seem to have more than two questions..." she pointed out. Roman stepped forward.

"Okay but we need to know the location of someone. Well, a group of someones," Roman said. She nodded and stared at him.

He looked around. Salem and Glynda nodded, Ruby was busy beating up Neo, Tyrian seemed unperturbed by the being, Hazel's eyes were slightly wider, Cinder looked bored, and Watts looked incredibly interested.

"What's our little ragtag group of misfits up to?" he asked. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and smiling.

"They are currently in an Atlas jail cell," she answered proudly.

They all blinked.

"Qrow, what the hell did you do..." Glynda groaned. Jinn didn't respond to Glynda but continued answering Roman's initial question.

"Allow me to inform you of what they are currently doing. Right now they're..."

* * *

Qrow paced around the cell. It had been a stressful day so far and he was really looking forward to the part where it got better.

Knowing his luck, that wasn't going to happen.

"Mr. Branwen! I highly suggest that you stop pacing, as it can be disruptive to others sleeping—"

"I get it, you bucket of bolts!" he yelled.

There was also that.

The ginger haired robot that had been harassing him and the others since they got arrested. Just goes to show you what helping gets you in Atlas.

Shortly after they'd met Maria's friend, the siren for Grimm went off and they sprung into action to help. Halfway through Penny had shown up, much to the surprise of everyone. She left to go deal with Grimm on the other side of Mantle, and before they could do much else, the Atlas special operatives came and arrested them for the unlawful landing of a stolen aircraft.

The twins were leaning against the cell bars, talking to the operatives as though there was nothing wrong.

"I bet the strip clubs in Atlas are bottom tier compared to the shit you can find in Mistral," Melanie said. The man she spoke to, a bald monk like guy with some seriously creepy eyes, ignored her entirely.

"Yeah, and these operative uniforms do nothing for the eyes," Miltia said, scanning the team that had apprehended them.

"Uniforms don't need to be flashy. Neither to outfits for huntsman," one woman replied finally, be it out of annoyance or defence. She was shorter compared to the others, and had dark skin and a tuft of cream white hair towards the front of her head.

"That doesn't mean you guys had to wear outfits that made you look so flat," Melanie said as she checked her nails.

"What the hell did you just say!?" the woman shouted, attempting to grab her through the bars. Another woman, this one hefty and full of muscle, held her back and shook her head.

"Not worth it Harriet," she said gruffly. Harriet glared at them and sat back down.

"Also what is that haircut? I mean seriously—" Qrow tuned them out as Harriet was restrained from attacking them again. The twins laughed haughtily and he smirked. At least they could make the most out of the situation.

"Is this really necessary?" Pyrrha asked from her cell. She had her own, and was chained up like a monster, with shackles on her arms and legs and her hands bound by a pair of heavy cuffs that covered her entire hand in a conical like shape.

"With your semblance we can't take any chances. And yeah, we know what it is, don't look so surprised," a dark skinned faunus man said, his black tail low and still.

Pyrrha sighed and tried to sit as comfortably as possible. Jaune, Ren, and Nora sat in the cell beside her.

"So when do we see Ironwood?" Jaune asked. The same faunus scoffed.

"What makes you think we're just gonna let you see the general? You think that it's that easy? That you can just somehow get an audience with—" he was cut off by the leader of the five operatives getting a call.

"Yes? General Ironwood sir! You do? Okay, they'll be there right away sir. Over," he turned to all of them.

"The general wishes to see you now," he smirked. The faunus just froze where he was before dropping and groaning.

"So what was that about it being that easy?" Mercury asked, smiling at the man. He growled and unlocked the cells. Mercury had his legs confiscated and so he was carried by the large woman.

"Make any funny moves and you all go back behind bars," he said.

They were left through the halls of the Atlas base, before walking through a circular room and stopping before a metal door.

"Sir! We're here with the individuals," the leader said again. There was a buzz before the doors slid open.

In Ironwood's office, Winter and Penny stood on his left and right, and he sat behind his large desk, fingers in a tent before him.

"Thank you five for your work. You may unbound them," he said. They all hesitated a moment before following orders.

Pyrrha sighed as the cuffs were all slowly removed and blushed a little when she realized she was the only person now being unbound and that everyone was watching her.

"It's good to see you all again," the general said as he stood and walked around his desk. In the time since they'd last seen him he'd grown a full beard. He looked worse for wear, his eyes tired and full of apprehension.

"James. You look like shit," Qrow said. Winter was about to speak up when he held up a hand.

"You look pretty haggard yourself Qrow," he said with a small smile. The drink smirked and stepped up, hand held out. Ironwood took it and the two gripped the others arm.

"Good to see you alive," Ironwood said.

"Good to see you haven't lost your place as general," he returned. The general sighed and stepped back.

"After the fall, it was definitely up in the air. Perhaps still is..." he said. He looked around and noticed something. He raised an eyebrow and looked back to his operatives.

"Is this all of them? It would seem like we're missing some based on what I was to believe," he asked. Qrow winced and reached for his flask before halting and brushing his hand down his shirt instead.

"About that..." he sighed. He told Ironwood about what happened to Roman and Ruby, and how Glynda and Neo had gone after him and the relic.

Ironwood growled as he took in the news. Salem had the relic and had taken their allies away to add insult to injury. While he and Roman had butt heads initially, the general couldn't deny the man's adaptability.

"We will have to see what we can do about that at a later date. As it is now, my men are stretched thin making sure the city is safe," he said.

"I get protecting the city, but would that really leave you _all _out of soldiers?" Jaune asked. James hummed a little before starting to walk back and forth.

"Very perceptive of you. No it normally wouldn't. But I've been working on something. Something big," he said. The operatives all stepped back as Ironwood pressed a button on his desk. The center of the room raised as a holographic projector sprouted from the floor.

"Allow me to explain," he said.

He told them of his plan to use the remains of Amity Arena as a hub and tell the world about the threat of Salem. He was adamant that their attempts at fighting a silent war had been fruitless. By the end of his explanation, they were all quiet.

"Can we really do that? Can we just... tell the world about Salem?" Yang asked.

"And even if we did, can the people of Remnant fight back if or when she starts coming down on them?" Blake added. The general sighed.

"These are all things I considered and have implemented into the plan. But with this, the negativity in the air from the fall, and the upcoming election I have very little ground troops to be sending out. We'll be lucky if this plan ever even happens, let alone if it works," he said.

"Let us lend a hand then," Qrow suggested, "these kids have done enough to know their way around a fight or two. You send your men to do the easy stuff and we'll take care of the actual problems."

Ironwood hummed, a small smile coming to his eyes. He nodded.

"I think that would work," he said.

"Sir, are you positive?" Winter asked. Weiss crossed her arms and looked at her sister.

"We made it here, didn't we?" she claimed. Winter narrowed her eyes and nodded once.

"Yes, but that was after the mess you left Haven and stealing an airship from a military base in Argus," Winter pointed out.

"And? What's saving the day without a little property damage?" Mercury asked. The others all nodded while the Atlas personnel in the room all made a face at their attitude.

"I... suppose your spirit is part of your ability," Ironwood said hesitantly after a moment.

"Allow us to get you set up," he said, stepping past them.

"Set up?" Nora asked. He smiled, though they couldn't see it with his back to them.

"I think you're all in need of some upgrades," he said simply, continuing onwards.

"Thank the Lord I get my legs back again. Pretty sure this constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment," Mercury said as he was carried after the general.

* * *

"... and now I have sufficiently answered your question and am unable to grant you more knowledge unless you ask another question," Jinn finished telling them.

Salem hissed quietly under her breath. Ozpin had made it to Atlas. That meant he had another relic under his control. Not to mention they still didn't know where the winter maiden was. As tempting as it was to ask Jinn where she was, having the winter maiden wouldn't exactly do anything for them if Ozpin had the staff of creation.

"I'm just saying, stealing the city is sounding more plausible now," Roman said. Glynda smacked him on the back of the head lightly and he shrugged.

"My queen, their plan would be disastrous for us in the long run," Watts said, referring to Ironwood's scheme, "If they succeed we may never have a chance to obtain the relics."

Despite what reasons her minions initially joined her, Salem knew that they wouldn't disobey her. Even if they did, they all knew their chances of obtaining the power and revenge they all wanted was all but impossible on their own.

But just outright attacking Atlas or stealing relics would only draw attention to them anyways, essentially playing out that annoying generals plan for him

They didn't just need to be quiet, they needed to be silent. They needed to fly under the radar.

"Roman," Salem said softly as she came out of her trance. He looked over and quirked an eyebrow up in response.

"I have a task I'd like to ask of you," she said, looking over him, Glynda, Neo, and Ruby. Chew stood at attention when Neo looked over.

"I've been known for my creative problem solving from time to time," he said. She smirked.

"Then please indulge me," she said with a glint in her eyes. Roman raised an eyebrow at the look she was giving him. It wasn't the same predatory look she gave him before sex.

This one was more like someone who just watched everything fall into place.

"How would you like to become the world's most famous thief after all?"

Glynda and the girls looked at him. She and Ruby sighed while Neo grew an excited look at what she saw.

He was grinning. And he had that fire in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time.

"What's the saying? History in the making?" he asked. Salem laughed. It was a beautiful, melodious laugh, and yet still evil in its own way.

"They'll be talking about it for generations," she assured.

And so the counter plan had begun.

* * *

Mercury tapped his legs on the floor a few times.

"They feel heavier," he said, annoyed.

"You'll get used to the weight," the leader of the ace-ops, Clover as they'd learned, told him. He grunted.

"Easy for you to say; you've never had prosthetic legs," he whined.

"You'll see that the upgrades added to your weapons and equipment were tailored to you based on hours of footage we have from the Vytal Tournament," Ironwood said as he walked into the room with Winter.

They all inspected their weapons. Nothing seemed especially different for WBY, other than Yang now being equipped with rounds that could be detonated remotely. Jaune's shield gained a dust extension, as well as modifying his standard rifle to take dust rounds. Stormflower now had the ability to launch the blades on the handles out. Nora could apparently ride Magnhild now, which made Ren pale and fear for his life.

They looked to the three former criminals who were looking over their new weapons.

Mercury's legs looked more or less the same, with the internal mechanisms being covered in order to prevent anything jamming them. Likewise, Dr. Polendina had installed a spring mechanism within that significantly improved his movement and stopping power. He didn't know that at first and accidentally jumped headfirst into the ceiling, knocking out a light.

The twin's blades had both been sharpened, and a slot for fire dust was now included on the shins of Melanie's boots. The same slots were on the back of Miltia's hands but for lighting dust instead. Both twin's blades could also now extend with pressure from their hands or heels respectively.

"Anything else we should worry about? I don't wanna launch myself into anything like Merc," Melanie asked.

"Yes actually! We noticed you two fight in tandem so father added a new dust implementation to your blades!" Penny said.

"And that would be?" Miltia asked.

"Try striking your blades together with each other. Oh, and mind your eyes," the android advised.

They looked at each other and shrugged before closing their eyes, used to knowing each other's movements. Melanie kicked up and Miltia slashed out. When the blades connected the dust within both activated and a bright flash went off.

"Ow! Fuck!" Mercury cried as he shielded his eyes.

"Wow that was _really _bright," Nora said as she blinked rapidly.

The twins opened their eyes, still having seen the light from behind their lids.

"That's gonna be annoying around friends," Melanie said.

"But oh so fun around douchebags," Miltia smirked.

"I can't believe you gave the kids flashbangs," Qrow muttered to Ironwood. The general chuckled.

They all turned to Pyrrha. She looked down at her weapons and held them up, inspecting them.

"I don't feel much of a difference if I'm being honest," she said sheepishly.

"Try the button on your shield's handle," Penny tried whispering but she didn't seem to have the hang of it. They laughed as Pyrrha held Akouo in front of her and felt around for the switch.

It was against the side that her arm would rest against. She placed it on her arm and pressed the shield down into her forearm. She yelped a little when blades popped out of the edges, pointing upwards and away from her arm slightly, and began spinning.

"Is that a saw blade shield?" Blake asked. As they all went over their newly improved weapons, Qrow sighed.

Ruby would love to see this. And that she wasn't here made him butter again. Why didn't he go after her? And what the hell was Ozpin hiding?

He'd give anything to see his niece again.

Suddenly a soldier ran in and saluted quickly to the room of higher-ups.

"Sir! We have an incoming ship from the North quadrant! There's no authorization at all!" he said. Ironwood raised an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes.

"Why bring this to my attention soldier?"

"Well... that's the part that's hard to explain..." he said.

"Try," Ironwood commanded. He nodded.

"The ship is on fire," he said. He breathed a sigh of relief. That actually wasn't too hard to explain after all!

"What!?" Ironwood shouted.

They were led to the monitor room and the soldier brought up the north cameras on the largest screen.

"What the hell is it doing?" Ironwood asked, thoroughly confused.

"We have no idea. We can't get into contact with it. Permission to ground it?" the soldier asked.

"Permission granted," Ironwood allowed.

"All units in the North sector take down unidentified burning ship," the soldier called in through his microphone. The other end replied with a Roger and they watched as the surrounding ships and turrets aimed at the ship.

Except every shot they took missed.

"North sector, what's wrong? Can you get a lock on the ship?"

"_Negative soldier, we can't get a lock on them," _a soldier replied.

They watched as the destroyed ship turned and rolled, getting closer and closer to the city.

"What on Remnant is it trying to accomplish?" Ironwood asked.

"I don't know but the flying reminds me of the fall when Torchwick flew that bullhead into that warship," Nora said.

They were all silent for a moment, sad at the reminder of their lost friends. They looked out of the window. Then they all blinked.

"When did the ship get that close?" Pyrrha asked.

"And is it just me or is it getting closer?" Jaune added.

The ships left engine blew out and the ship began spiraling towards the window.

"HANDSOME AMPUTEES FIRST!" Mercury screamed as he threw himself out the door. The others screamed and followed him as the ship exploded through the window.

The room was a mess of exposed wires, broken glass, cement, and metal, and ruined computers. The damage alone would cost thousands, and the ruined and still very much in fire bullhead sitting in the center of the room would also cost a lot to remove.

But that would be after Ironwood killed whoever was inside, provided they weren't already dead.

Ironwood stomped into the ruin comms room and on top of the toppled bullhead. He brushed fire off of his shoulder and pried the door clean off the ship before pointing his gun inside.

"You have the right to remain—" he paused and they all tensed, " wait... Glynda!?"

They gasped and ran in immediately. He hauled her out of the ship, her clothes torn in places and an especially long rip in her shirt on her shoulder running down her mid back. Her eyes were closed, glasses cracked, and her breathing was shallow.

When they looked in Yang almost cried.

"RUBY!" she yelled as she pushed past the general and took her sister. She was unconscious, like Glynda, and she looked like she'd been fighting for days.

The twins looked in and gasped. Neo was there too, Chew standing over her and growling, hardly able to stand at all. His fur was singed and his teeth were barred. One eye was stuck shut from soot.

There was a series of coughs and swearing and they looked into the cockpit.

"...Good to know... we were... missed," Roman groaned as he pulled himself up, barely conscious.

"Roman!" Qrow shouted as he helped the thief up.

"What's up you drunk bastard," he wheezed before coughing again.

"Are... are they?" Nora asked, hugging Ren as they looked at the three women. Roman shook his head and winced.

"They're fine... but..." he grit his teeth and swore, "they still have the relic."

"Forget the relic for now, we need to get you all medical attention," Ironwood said, leaving no room for hesitation.

"Cool... now that that's settled..." his eyes rolled back as he passed out. Clover turned on his earpiece.

"Med team! You're needed immediately!"

* * *

Roman woke up and looked around. The room was dark, but he could make out the white ceiling and the sound of machinery beeping away. He still had his hat on.

He cleared his throat and stretched for a moment before speaking.

"We're alone ladies," he said. As if a switch had been flipped the three rose, Neo even yawning as though she'd just had a nap.

"I cannot believe that worked," Glynda huffed. She made a face of annoyance as she realized her glasses were missing. Likely still broken as well considering their act.

"Is it... okay to lie to all of them like this?" Ruby asked. She had been the most against the plan.

"It's this or the overwhelming weight of God. Your call kiddo," Roman said. Ruby rolled her eyes but didn't argue further.

Neo looked down at her legs, chew had been placed on them and was still sleeping. He deserved a treat for his performance. She'd have to remember to get him one.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked. Roman sighed as he rubbed his arms.

"We steal the relic of creation," Roman said as he stood, not wanting to be stuck in the stiff hospital bed anymore.

"But doesn't Atlas need the relic to stay floating? And I know we can't let Ozpin gather all the relics but is gathering them for Salem that much better?" Ruby asked.

"To answer your second question Ms. Rose, we're not giving the relics to Salem. She told us before we left that they are going to be spread out throughout the Grimmlands and buried," Glynda said.

"And as for how to steal the relic without killing anyone," Roman said as he took off his hat, "Salem gave me this little thing."

He pulled a small, black stone out of his hat. There was a red mark on it, a sigil of sorts. It glowed slightly and despite it's material, was most weightless.

Neo tilted her head. Roman tossed the stone up and down.

"Apparently this thing is like a magic generator. It can't do anything special like the relics but it puts off the same kind of energy. She said it won't last forever but by the time it runs out we'll likely all be dead anyways," he explained.

"To think such a small stone holds such great power," Glynda said. Roman nodded. He watched the queen make it in front of him.

She just... coalesced it. Out of thin air. She seemed very winded afterwards but assured him that her power would return. Apparently being immortal really took away the stress of waiting.

"But where is the relic?" Ruby asked. Roman shrugged.

"That's the best part of the heist Red! We're all criminals now!" he said. Ruby dropped and Glynda rolled her eyes.

There was a knock at the door.

"Hello? I thought I heard people in there! Are you all awake?"

Roman threw himself back in bed and the others followed suit. He gestured for Ruby and Neo to close their eyes and they did.

"Yeah I'm awake!" he called, making his voice sound hoarse. The door opened and a nurse came in and looked over him and Glynda.

"I should've assumed the two licensed hunters would be up first. How are you both feeling?" the nurse asked as she walked inside the room.

"I've been through worse," Roman joked before wincing and coughing. Glynda repressed the urge to groan. The man was too good at lying and it scared her sometimes.

"Ah Miss, these are yours. They've been repaired and paid for already," the nurse said as she walked over to Glynda and handed her a small black case. Glynda opened it and found her glasses, good as new. She nodded in thanks.

"Please rest for now. In the morning the general will be by to speak with you," she told them before she closed the door and left. As soon as the door clicked shut the girls were both up again.

"So we just have to wait here until morning? Can't the general just come now so we don't have to sit around doing nothing?" Ruby asked, clearly not enthused with the idea of staying in the hospital room for more time than they had to.

"No can do Red," Roman crushed her spirit, "we gotta stay here and live up our lie."

"What's our alibi again?" Glynda asked. Roman waved his hand in front of himself.

"Leave the lying to me. Hop in when you get a chance, I'll make sure it's easy to follow," he said. Glynda sighed but didn't argue further. If anyone could weave a tale and somehow get away with it, it was Roman.

Neo stretched before sprawling out and cuddling Chew. The rest followed suit and got comfortable.

It'd be a boring few hours.

* * *

Roman opened his eyes as he heard the door. He was met with the steely gaze of James Ironwood.

"Torchwick."

"Irondick."

The two stared the other down. Roman adjusted himself in his bed.

"So was the beard an impulse thing or...?"

"Shut up Roman."

"Good to see you too James," the thief smiled. The general rolled his eyes but wasn't glaring so that was a good sign.

Roman made a show of turning and looking over Neo before sighing and laying back again. Ironwood noticed and his eyes softened a little.

"They say you'll all make a full recovery. Your auras were completely depleted," he told. Roman looked off to the side. That had been easier to pull off than he initially thought. Salem knew a spell that could drain aura so that had been easy. The hard part was piloting the bullhead while on fire and crashing it with no aura.

They were the ones who set the ship on fire in the first place of course so it was mostly controlled, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard to keep calm the whole time.

"Yeah. It was rough out there," Roman said. The general nodded.

"Very few have ever gone where you were and lived. The only ones who have only touched the borders, never willing to traverse the land," he explained. Roman knew why. The place was a breeding ground for Grimm. And he'd just come from the center of it!

"We saw her," he said. Ironwood nodded and sighed.

"Based on your conditions we assumed as much. Luckily you managed to get out without any injuries. That crash landing could've killed you though," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he commented on their strangely good condition.

"The crash must've knocked them out. These three were still kicking when we were airborne," Roman claimed. The general nodded.

"That you managed to keep the ship from combusting midair was a feat in and of itself," he said. Roman nodded and leaned back. Glynda slowly stirred and blinked her eyes open.

"Hello James," she said simply. He nodded back.

"Good to see you're okay Glynda," he said politely. Roman sighed dramatically.

"And I only get a shut up? James, I'm hurt," Roman said. The general's mouth twitched for a smile for a brief moment, but he didn't allow it to happen.

There was a commotion outside and they could hear nurses yelling for someone to slow down. Suddenly the door burst open and Yang and Qrow stood in the opening.

Yang ran over to Ruby's bed and inspected the girl. Qrow saw she was still asleep and sighed before he turned and looked at Roman. He smiled and nodded. Roman sent him a two fingered salute.

Behind them he could see the others all peering in. They looked a mix of relieved and happy.

"So you managed to look into the jaws of the beast and live, huh?" Qrow smirked as he pulled a chair over and sat by the thief's bed.

"It was looking bleak for a while there. They tried drilling me for something useful. Cinder, the pompous bitch, was sure I knew something useful. Jokes on her; I don't know anything useful!" Roman quipped. The two men shared a laugh and Qrow sighed in relief, looking over at Ruby.

"How'd you find her?" he asked.

"I'd also like to know that. Based on Qrow's story, she was taken days after you. So where _did _you find her?" Ironwood asked. Qrow bumped the man's shoulder with his own.

"Relax James. Roman's with us, remember?" they both looked back at him and Roman shrugged.

"Well it went like this..."

Glynda rolled her eyes as Roman weaved a lie. She didn't roll them because it sounded too far out. She rolled them because it sounded believable.

Ruby finally stirred awake when Roman started getting loud. She was about to ask who was yelling when she was crushed into a hug.

Yang had her in a vice grip, and was swaying back and forth slightly.

"I'm okay Yang... Roman found me... please let me go! I need air..." Ruby squeaked. Yang finally released her and Ruby gasped for air. By this point Neo and Chew had also awakened and we're watching. Chew barked to notify that he also wanted attention.

He got it when the others came in and checked on the four. Nora ran over and hugged the dog and Neo at the same time, shoving Neo's face in her boobs and forcing Chew's paws directly into her stomach. She coughed as the wind was forced out of her.

"Oh great, the kids are back," Roman said with a very fake smile. Mercury flipped him off and Roman responded in kind.

"And here we were ready to reap the benefits of you will," Miltia sighed as she held her cheek with one hand. Melanie mirrored the pose with the opposite hand.

"We were so ready to organize that funeral," Melanie followed up. Roman rolled his eyes.

"Okay, one; I don't have a will. I launder all my money. And two; I wouldn't allow Junior to let you two plan anyone's funeral," he smirked. They scoffed but there was no malice to it.

"So Salem has the relic of knowledge," Ironwood clarified. Roman sighed and nodded.

"It was either save the relic or save Red," he said, nodding back towards Ruby, who blushed at everyone looking at her.

"I figured the kid with the magic eye lasers was gonna be more helpful than the glorified paperweight in the long run," he said. Ironwood sighed but didn't make any attempt to argue the point.

"At any rate," Roman started, trying as hard as possible to steer the conversation away from their supposed escape from the Grimmlands, "what's going on around here?"

"It's election season," Qrow said. Roman gagged.

"Throw me back in the Grimmlands," he groaned. That managed to get aaugh out of Ironwood.

"The sentiment is shared," he said.

"Who are the candidates?" Glynda asked. Mercury answered before anyone else could.

"It's down to the literal devil and an edgy PTA mom," he said.

"Who?" Roman asked. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Robyn Hill and... my father," Weiss reiterated. Roman winced. Jacques Schnee? The dictator-esque CEO of the largest dust company on the planet? Mercury wasn't wrong with the devil thing. Roman may have been a thief, a crook even, depending on who you asked, but at least he wasn't a slave driver.

"And who's the other candidate?" Glynda asked.

"We don't really know her that well, but apparently she's been trying to steal supplies from the general's trucks to give to the people of Mantle," Jaune said. Ironwood nodded with his assessment. Robyn Hill had been an obstacle lately when it came to transporting supplies to the site of the Amity project.

Roman's face scrunched in disgust. Stealing to give back to people? That's the most charitable kind of stealing! Which makes it the _stupidest _kind of stealing! Thank god he had his right to vote revoked after his second criminal sentence six years ago. Really dodged a bullet with that one.

"So what're we doing here then?" Roman asked. Ironwood stepped forward and looked among the four formerly incapacitated hunters.

"Allow me to fill you in," he said as he launched into his plan. They already knew his plan of course, but they listened as if it were the first time.

"That's quite the plan," Roman said, acting like it surprised him, "and you think it's possible?"

"With our technology and all of you as capable hunters u think we have a chance," he said. Little did he know that they didn't need that chance.

The nurses came in and told them all that they had to leave for them to check if the four were set to leave. An hour later and they were discharged, walking out with the others. Neo even got a sticker and a lollipop that was meant for younger patients. Not that she really cared.

Roman took a look around the halls of the Atlas military base. He'd always thought the only time he'd see the inside was if he was arrested. Go figure.

"Hey kid, where the hell is Oz?" Roman asked Oscar. He shuffled a little as he looked for the right words.

"He's... hiding," he said carefully.

"Hiding?" Glynda asked. What did that even mean?

"Well, when Ruby got kidnapped Qrow mentioned something about Salem building a family and he just kinda... went away," the young boy explained.

The four looked confused and shocked on the outside but on the inside were groaning in annoyance.

Come on Oz! Don't leave the rest of the world to deal with your ex-wife! Do it yourself! Your students are not your marriage counselors!

"At any rate, we must get to work on the Arena, with or without Ozpin to help us. The faster we get Amity up and running, the faster we bring the fight to Salem," Ironwood claimed, "For now, you four should go back to the rooms that have been put aside for you. We will begin the active phase of the project starting tomorrow morning."

He pointed Roman and Glynda towards a room while WBY led Ruby and Neo to their room. They were about to round the corner when someone gasped.

"Ruby?" a familiar voice said. Ruby and Neo turned around. Both were shocked at who they saw; one was in awe while the other was terrified. Neo hadn't ever seen someone she killed alive and moving again after all.

"Penny?" Ruby asked. She was about to ask how she was alive when the android launched forth and tackled the girl. They slid all the way down the hall until they stopped at a wall.

"I was wondering when you would arrive Ruby!" Penny exclaimed as she rose and spun Ruby in circles. The reaper looked like she was getting progressively sicker with each cycle.

"Hi Penny! Please stop spinning! I'm gonna girl!" Ruby cried as they continued spinning. Finally she was placed back down and she wobbled before she fell over.

Neo came over and helped her up. She still shook but she stayed standing this time. Neo looked at Penny and gave her a little wave.

"Hello Neo! How have you been since last we saw each other?" Penny asked. Neo looked back at everyone else as if to ask 'is she serious?' before remembering it was Penny and that meant she was, in fact, serious.

Neo was about to reach for her scroll when Penny stopped her.

"Worry not! I am equipped with over one hundred languages!" she said. Neo shrugged and signed.

_You're not mad that I killed your ass? _she asked. Penny's eyes glowed before she smiled and stood with her hands on her hips.

"I'm not even a little upset! Now I'm new and improved and ready to fight!" she said confidently. Neo looked at Ruby who just shrugged and mouthed 'go with it'.

Neo smiled at the android and nodded. Penny beamed and grabbed both girls.

"Now! Your friends told me that you two are enacting a relationship!" she said excitedly.

"Oh, well uh, yeah we've been together for a few months now—"

"I'm curious about this human concept! Have you two taken part in the intercourse?" she asked.

Everyone froze in silence, even Ironwood, who's eye twitched a little as he made a mental note to speak to Pietro about his daughter later. Ruby was as red as her cloak. Neo had her face in her hands and was trying to avoid eye contact with Yang, Qrow, and Roman.

"Gingers am I right?" Nora said aloud. Mercury just stared at her, lost beyond a doubt.

Roman groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

It was good to be back.

Right?

No. He would have much rathered the pampering he got back in the Grimmlands with Salem. Judging by the look on Glynda's face, she was thinking much the same thing.

* * *

**That'll do for now.**

**Roman and the others make it to Atlas, but not to help.**

**To do what he does best!**

**Do I hate Ozpin? No, not at all. But if he knows the gods will destroy the planet if Salem's still around, why does he want to bring them back? It just seemed kind of strange to me. Perhaps they'll touch upon it in the next season.**

**But now we are in season 7! I have plans for this, as this is likely where my story will diverge entirely and possibly end.**

**The end isn't soon, it's just in my mind now. Rest assured, I have more story to write, and other stories planned!**

**For now, please stay healthy, keep up the social distancing, and have a wonderful time!**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Penny gets a crash course in sex education**

Penny sat before Ironwood, Qrow, and Roman. The three had taken her aside to explain why one couldn't just shout about two people having sex in a populated hallway.

That slowly revealed something somewhat frightening.

"I apologise! But I am unaware of what makes intercourse so taboo! I do not understand the feeling or cultural significance at all as it was not programmed into my database," she informed.

The three men shared long stares with each other. Roman excused them as they turned their backs towards the girl.

What she didn't know was that they played rock, paper, scissors to see who'd try explaining things first.

Ironwood lost immediately in the first round. Then Qrow. Roman rejoiced that he had to go last as it meant she probably wouldn't care by that point.

"Well Penny, you see... sexual intercourse is a very special thing to be shared between two people—"

As if forgetting that they'd played for order at all, Qrow jumped in and cut the general off.

"Hold on a minute James, sex isn't necessarily anything special. Some people get laid all the time! Not to mention that porn exists and if you call that sex anything but boring then the only thing that's special is you," the drunk slurred. Ironwood groaned.

"Yes, but when it is about people you know, it's generally more than just friends with benefits!" he argued. Penny tilted her head to the side.

"What are friends with benefits?" Penny asked. Roman separated the two and stepped forward.

"Friends with benefits are... just the best," he said.

"Goddamnit Torchwick we're supposed to be teaching her good morals!"

"Hey! He's not wrong! There's no problem with two friends sharing a bed!"

"Yeah and we haven't even started on foreplay!" Roman added in.

"Fore... play?" Penny asked, thoroughly confused. Who knew intercourse had so many different parts! It was like an intricate machine!

By this point the three men were just arguing over what sex really was while also continually adding more concepts with each point.

Penny's eyes were wide open in awe.

There was so much to learn!

"I will become a master at intercourse!" she exclaimed.

"ROMAN! JAMES! QROW! WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST HEAR!?" Glynda screamed from the other room.

All three men paled.

"Truce?" Roman asked. Ironwood and Qrow looked at each other before looking back and nodding.

The three sprinted out the room as the sounds of one incredibly pissed Glynda Goodwitch stormed the halls. Atlas personnel stood no chance if they didn't move in time.

The poor souls. They didn't even know what was coming until she tossed them out of the way with telekinetic powers. Ironwood knew for a fact that the military's insurance didn't cover that.

The three men continued running until late into the night. Parents would later tell their children stories about the event, and none would know if it were true or not.


	27. Chapter 27

**Happy to see that people actually like this story. Months ago when I started writing it I was almost certain it wouldn't get that much attention. So truly, thank you all for reading! It means a lot to this cold heartless soul!**

**I mentioned it briefly in the last chapter, but I have other stories planned! More on that at the bottom!**

**Let's get right to it and get back into the story!**

* * *

Roman stood before a wooden table in his and Glynda's room. Ruby and Neo stood on the other side, with all four surrounding the table. Chew sat off to the side, gnawing on a rubber toy. He was very quickly reducing its size by large chunks with each bite, very much living up to his namesake.

On the table before all of them was a blueprint of Atlas. As in, Atlas as a whole. The city, it's mechanics, where each and every important building and docking bay was. It was easy to obtain really. Atlas liked flaunting it's technological prowess to the world and they sold the blueprints as posters.

The only thing not included was a strange space in the middle, beneath Atlas Academy. Roman had circled it with a red marker and drawn a line off to the side that read "here's the staff!"

Roman was smoking inside, the smoke detector that Ironwood had specifically told them was not to be tampered with lay in pieces on the floor. Roman had given it to Chew before the dog destroyed it and moved on to an actual toy. He had also scanned the room for bugs or hidden cameras. They were safe, and he even had Neo do another look and got her approval as well.

"Okay, Operation Stealy Staff is a go," Roman said, reading the name Neo and Ruby had come up with and written at the top of the blueprints in a rainbow of colors.

Glynda sighed at the name and rubbed her temples.

Roman put his cigar out and pointed to the academy that they currently were in. He circled it with his finger.

"So we're in Atlas military academy right now and we need to find a way to get into the holding chamber for the staff. To do this without getting arrested or worse, shot, we need a suitable distraction," he said, reverting into his old 'scheming and heisting mode'.

_We could blow up a bank. That always gets people moving, _Neo claimed. Roman nodded, hand on his chin.

She wasn't wrong. It'd get forces looking for the culprit, and the less honorable people would be jumping at the chance to nab whatever money was left from the explosion.

A heated look from Glynda had both thieves cowering. Scratch that. No blowing up banks.

"Oh! Oh! What if we tricked Ironwood into thinking there was another threat coming?" Ruby suggested. Roman hummed.

"It might work depending on what you've got in mind," he allowed. She tapped her chin for a moment before slamming her fist into her palm.

"What if we get Watts to hack his security systems and stuff? Wouldn't he have to deal with getting it all back?" she threw out.

Roman mulled it over. He could probably get in touch with Watts to work his ways on the systems in Atlas, but there was no way James wasn't looking out for that kind of stuff since the fall.

They'd have to ferry the scientist into Atlas though and there was no easy way to do that. Aside from that, there was no guarantee that Watts would actually even be able to do anything with Atlas firewalls breathing down his neck.

"Perhaps we don't need to even do that much..." Glynda hummed. They turned to her and she chose to continue.

"James is the paranoid type. He doesn't like letting anything get past him. Having his soldiers hacked back in Vale must have put him on edge like never before. If we can convince him that we overheard Salem having plans to attack Atlas next..."

"Then he'll ramp up protection around the kingdom and only leave his people in the know in charge of watching over the relic. And the people who know about the relic think that we'll be protecting it too," Roman finished. Glynda nodded curtly.

He smiled. She had a scheming heart yet!

"But you already told Ironwood about how you got out of the Grimmlands without hearing anything. How will you convince him _now _that you overheard their plans?" Ruby asked. He tsked. That was a good point. It would only make the man suspicious if he suddenly remembered something like that.

"What if we don't even have to do that? If we mention Watts then James will go off the deep end," Roman thought aloud. During his time with the scientist, he had learned that Watts had a rather sordid past with the Atlas military.

"That could work," Glynda said, "but we'd have to make sure that James believes it an actual threat and not something that he can wave his army at."

"Let me handle that," Roman offered, "the rest of you start doing rounds around the academy. Find our route in. Neo, get a good look at the uniforms on the soldiers. We'll need a good way to get around unimpeded."

The others nodded and he sighed, a smile coming to his face. Ah how he missed this part of life. The planning, the anticipation, the delivery! It made being a thief all the better.

He was about to continue when the door flew open and Mercury toppled through the opening, the twins on top of him. The four stared at the three as they all stared back at them from the floor, silent.

"So how much of that did you three hear?" Roman asked.

"Around the part where Neo suggested blowing up a bank," the assassin told. Glynda groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. Roman shook his head.

"Welp, too late now. Get your asses in here and lock the door," the man said. The three got up and closed the door, coming to stand around the table.

"So what's this we heard about stealing the staff?" Miltia asked, clearly confused.

"Well ya see—" Roman was cut off by Ruby.

"Roman and Goodwitch had sex with Salem!" she said quickly. The room was silent and Glynda had her face all the way on the table now.

"Red... c'mon," Roman said disappointedly. She hunched over sheepishly, digging her toe into the ground.

"You what?" Mercury asked. Roman went about explaining what they knew. About Salem, Ozpin, the relics and the brother gods. By the end of his retelling, with a few corrections from Glynda, the three were up to date and thoroughly upset.

"Of course I leave Cinder and get stuck with her bosses ex husband. Just my luck," Mercury groaned.

"So we're stealing the staff to prevent Armageddon from happening?" Melanie asked. Neo nodded and the twins sighed. Life was so much easier when they were just bouncers.

"And now that you three little bastards know, you're gonna help," Roman added. They all sighed, but nodded. That was the rule of the underworld. Get caught eavesdropping and you either joined the gang or got snuffed out.

"So we're just gonna be leaving Atlas to fall then?" Miltia asked. Roman pulled the stone from his hat and tossed it across the table to Mercury, who caught it and held it up between himself and the twins.

"That stone apparently has enough power to keep this floating hellhole floating for a few decades," he told them. Mercury looked it over and gave an impressed hum before tossing it back. Roman returned it to his hat and went over the plan they had so far.

"That's a solid plan I guess," Mercury said. Roman huffed.

"You guess? What do you got jackass?" Roman asked. Mercury laughed and put his hands up.

"I'm just saying. If you want Ironballs to really be on edge you gotta do more than make him think about Salem attacking. He _already_ expects Salem to attack, so we have to sabotage something deeper than just his army."

They all gave him a curious look and Roman waved his hand for him to go on. He did so gladly.

"If you ask me, I think we need to rig this election," he said.

"Oh hell no! I don't do politics," Roman whined.

"He's got a point Roman," Glynda sighed, "if we can get James to stretch his army thin and worry about corruption in the candidates then he'll be fully distracted."

Roman groaned but complied. As long as he didn't actually have to vote he supposed it was fine.

"Well I think our scapegoat is obvious," he said. They all nodded.

Jaques Schnee. The man would do anything if it meant there was a profit at the end. As such, it was easy to tell what would set the man off and what would get him to play into their hands.

Unfortunately it wasn't like they could just bribe him. When you thought rich, you thought of Jaques Schnee. The man had more money than the entirety of Vacuo and Menagerie combined. He could probably buy the upper half of Mistral; and that was the expensive half!

Roman had never had the displeasure of meeting the man, when he came and stole Weiss from Beacon it was Glynda who dealt with him. As such Glynda was the only one of them who had any experience with the man.

Her face said she wasn't happy that she'd have to deal with him again. Roman couldn't blame her. Watching the man give speeches and such on television was downright painful. It was like watching a murderer in court defend himself while he still had the bloody knife in his hand! The man had no tact and he knew he didn't need it because he was the most powerful man on the planet.

Roman really didn't want to work with him, but because of how well known the man was it would be easy to get into his head.

That, and they didn't really know the other candidate. Robyn Hill wouldn't be as easy to scare as Jaques. They didn't even know where they could find her.

"How the hell are we gonna get in touch with Jaques Schnee without giving ourselves away?" Melanie asked.

"Mel is right. Even if we somehow got in touch with him he'd recognize us the next time we appear with the general," Miltia added.

"Girls, girls," Roman put his hands up in a placating manner, "you're missing the obvious answer."

"Which would be?" Glynda asked, not wanting to drag this cloak and dagger on any longer than they needed to.

"Why try convincing him with words," Roman walked over to the door and grabbed Melodic Cudgel, giving it a few test swings like a baseball bat, "When we can just get him to do all of the work himself the old fashioned way?"

Glynda glared. Ruby looked apprehensive.

The other four criminals grew downright malicious grins. Roman's scroll went off; a message from Ironwood for them to gather at the docking bay for their first mission. He confirmed their arrival and looked back to Glynda, who still looked unhappy with his intentions for their plan.

"Roman, are you sure there's no other way?" Glynda asked, wanting to be absolutely sure this was the only option they had.

"I'm sure Glyn. Besides," he said as he sent a request through to Watts. Almost instantly he got a reply, and his smile grew.

"It's been a while since I've made a mess on purpose."

* * *

Neo shivered and adjusted her pink and white scarf around her neck. It was cold as hell in the Atlas frontier and she was already getting angry that the general wanted them to fight out here in the cold-ass caves of bumfuck-nowhere Atlas. Chew nuzzled up to her and she hugged him for warmth.

Ruby rubbed her shoulder and she scowled a little less. Only a little.

"So what the hell are we doing out here Woody?" Roman asked into his earpiece as he landed beside them.

"_As _General Ironwood _stated before, your mission is to assist the ace-ops in clearing the old mine of any particularly dangerous Grimm. Soldiers have reported on an especially dangerous wraith that has managed to accumulate a large amount of dust in its body," _Winter retold the thief.

"Okay but why do the supposed 'best of Atlas' need our help? I'd assume that the most technologically advanced kingdom in the world with the only _functioning_ army would have higher quality men," Roman barbed, smiling as he counted down from three on his fingers. After he lowered the last one, winter spoke again.

"_I'll have you know that the General put the utmost faith in his specialists and that Atlas—"_

_"Specialist. Enough," _Ironwood cut her off. She groaned but said nothing more.

Roman laughed and Neo gave him a high five. Glynda hid her smile as a cough but a nudge from the crook told her he'd seen it already. She just rolled her eyes instead.

Roman looked around. The cave before them had once been a lucrative mining operation for the Schnee dust company. Lack of common safety laws led to Grimm getting in and forces cordoning the caves to keep the beasts from getting out.

He and the others had just landed, having dropped from a bullhead. Team RWBY, MMMN, and two of the specialists were to take one side of the mine, while team JNPR and two other specialists would take the other side.

Meanwhile, Roman, Qrow, and the leader of the specialists, Clover apparently, would go in from a higher cave. Glynda would remain on the outskirts and keep the caves from falling in on themselves.

"Alright kiddos, go do what you do best. Oh and try not to blow up these nice specialists. It'd be _such a shame _if they got their uniforms dirty," Roman shooed them as he, Qrow, and Clover began their ascent to the higher caves.

The two specialists present, Harriet and Marrow, glared at his back as he walked away. Marrow sighed.

"Well, at least he didn't say anything racist. That's kind of new for me... I guess," the faunus reasoned. Mercury shook his head in disappointment.

"We've been notified by the general that you four are a team of criminals. As such, specialist Schnee asked us to watch your actions carefully, lest you try and steal anything that's not yours," Harriet said as she eyes team MMMN. The team made various mocking faces at her before collectively flipping her off. She grit her teeth and started their descent into the caves without paying them anymore mind.

Upon entering the cave and fighting their way through a small cluster of Grimm, they began to notice old remains and uniforms.

As the specialists prattled on about why the Grimm were a menace and all that nonsense, Neo immediately pat down an old uniform and found a wallet. And it had money in it! Score! She pocketed it and stuck her tongue out at Harriet, who didn't even look her way the whole time.

Suddenly a growl rumbled through the cave and they all went silent. Marrow made some obscene hand gestures and teams RWBY and MMMN just stared at him. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose before making the gestures again, slower this time and explaining each one as he did it.

"Grimm. Ahead. Move. Quietly," he said as though it were obvious.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Yang asked.

"Yeah seriously, don't be a fucking tool man," Mercury added.

"Hand signals are key to subtle and cohesive tactics," Harriet argued. Ruby blew a raspberry.

"We just yell out obscure team names and it normally works," she said.

"That's stupid, why would you shout an attack?" Marrow asked incredulously.

"Uh, because it's cool? You know how dope it is when you have a clever name for those things?" Yang said as though it were just that simple.

"Uh, guys?" Blake motioned as she aimed down the cave.

"Hold on Blake we're having a serious debate here," Ruby said, not turning her way.

"I think what Blake means is THE GRIMM ARE COMING YOU DOLTS!" Weiss shouted. They all turned and saw several centinals crawling rapidly towards them.

"Ah," Marrow let out as the large bugs leapt at them. The Grimm barreled down on them. They all maneuvered out of the way, slashing and striking where they could.

Ruby noticed very quickly that something was off. So did Neo who was standing right next to her. They took a moment to look at each other in confusion. Chew was just sitting there, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Why weren't they getting attacked?

As the others fought and argued in the caves below, a very different conversation was going on in the caves higher up.

"Okay, so if you're always lucky, you're always unlucky, and I can be both, what happens if we hang around a horse track?" Roman asked as the three men walked carelessly through the caves.

"Well, from the sounds of it, either a lot of people would claim the place is rigged, or a lot of people would walk away happy," Clover said as they stepped over a large chunk of ice.

"Or the whole place could go up in flames," Qrow said.

"Who would that be lucky for?" Clover asked.

"Ah, a burning building with loads of cash inside? Sounds pretty lucky for a thief with aura," Roman replied. Clover chuckled.

"You two are quite the company, you know that?" the specialist asked.

"We've been told," Qrow answered.

"We've also been shot at afterwards so I hope that hook isn't a gun too," Roman added. The three laughed and continued on until they felt a rumble.

It'd been relatively quiet until now. Too quiet. They were, quite frankly, a little bored. Grimm were normally more frequent than this. 'This' being none at all.

Without a word they all took a step back, just as a large mass burst from the wall, a white mask on its center. It stared at them, making strange noises. As it's gaze fell on Roman it paused. Roman froze.

Then it just stood there. Qrow and Clover stood tensed and ready to fight. But it didn't look like it was going to move at all.

It was just looking at Roman. He was confused and was about to move when he remembered something very important.

_Shit! How could I forget about that!? _he screamed internally.

When they had been leaving the Grimmlands the other day, Salem had caught him before they departed.

_"Roman, I've made sure that my precious darlings won't lay a claw on you or the others. Make sure to let them know!"_

Except he had totally forgotten! He had boarded the ship and while he was starting the bullhead he'd told himself he'd remind them when they were flying.

But then he didn't! Damn he hated when that happened. Neo always told him that he had a bad habit of forgetting immediate information...

"Uh, th-there it is!" Roman said as he took out his cane. It turned its whole body, like a dog trying to get a better look at someone.

"We have to handle this carefully, if we shoot at it, the dust in its body will go off and trap us all inside," Clover said as he reached up and tapped his earpiece.

"We have the geist here. We will begin extraction now. All units make your way to the upper caves," he commanded before readying his hook. Qrow drew his sword and lowered himself.

Roman was going through an internal debate. Fighting it was obviously what he had to do, but how did he do it without making the other two men suspicious as to why the Grimm was letting him attack it without fighting back.

He didn't get to make a decision as Qrow took one step forward and the ice beneath them cracked. The three men and one Grimm all went still.

"_Clover! We're right beneath your position, what's our next move?" _one of the specialists with team JNPR, Vine, asked.

"Vine, Elm, you need to take that team and move from our position immediately," Clover said, still not moving a muscle.

The geist, not quite understanding it's position, took one tentative step forward. It looked almost... happy? It's arms were spread wide, like it wanted a hug. Roman paled as he realized that's probably exactly what it was trying to do. It took one more step, eye closed merrily as it made another, lighter sounding rumbling noise.

It promptly fell right through the floor. Qrow swore and Clover's mouth dropped open.

"Maybe they got out of the way in time?" Roman asked.

"AHHHHHhhhhhh..." the sound of multiple people screaming and growing farther away was all they heard from the hole. The three looked at each other before slowly looking back at the hole.

"Alright well we should probably go down there now," the thief pointed out. Without another word they all dropped down the newly formed hole.

As they fell, they all slowed their descent in some way. Qrow dug Harbinger into the ice, carving a long scar down the wall. Clover pulled a similar move, his hook sharp enough to find purchase in the ice.

Roman was not so fortunate, and essentially slid his way down the hole, smacking into and through chunks of ice that jutted out from the sides of the hole.

Clover landed first, ready for the geist to be on them. Qrow landed beside him, also ready to fight.

Roman crashed on top of both of them, sending all three men to the ground. They groaned as they pulled themselves up.

"Clover, look out!" Vine shouted. The three tensed before tossing themselves aside. A large icy boulder landed where they once stood.

The geist stood in the center of the cavern. It was much more open than the rest of the caves, and had several tracks for minecarts running in and out of adjacent caves.

It grumbled as it looked around. It stopped turning as it's gaze landed on Roman.

Then it waved at him. The thief slapped a hand to his face.

"Is it... saying hello?" Elm asked, totally lost.

"HELLO!" Nora screamed, jumping on Roman's shoulder and waving at the Grimm rapidly. As if sensing her excitement, the geist also waved faster.

Unfortunately this caused the dust that was trapped in its arm to become dislodged, sending the crystals flying.

"Gah! Watch out!" Jaune yelled as he dived for cover. Pyrrha jumped and rolled next to him. An ice dust crystal landed where they stood and erupted in a giant spoke of ice that pierced into the cave wall.

At that moment, team RWBY, MMMN, and the remaining two specialists ran into the cave. Harriet yelped as she saw the red crystal flying towards them. She ran forward and leapt, catching it before it hit anything.

The others all did the same, running, jumping, and swinging around the cavern to catch the shards before they activated on anything. Roman cursed as he casually reached up and caught a shard of lightning dust. He handed it to Nora offhandedly and the girl giggled as she snatched it eagerly, skipping merrily back to her team who were still hiding from hail of areant dust shards.

If only Glynda were here. Her semblance would've made this entire situation child's play. For now they'd have to rely on everyone playing catch with dangerous and volatile dust.

He wondered idly how Glynda was doing outside.

* * *

Glynda was in a predicament.

She never considered herself easily caught off guard or flustered, but she'd admit to being very compromised right now.

What did she mean by compromised, one might ask? Well the answer was both simple and unexplainable.

In the harsh environment of the Atlesian frontier, she hadn't heard the thumping of a large fully grown Sabyr running at her.

She had gasped when she felt the impact of being tackled, The Disciplinarian flying from her hand and landing somewhere, buried in the snow. She looked up and into the predatory eyes of the beast.

She grit her teeth as it reared back, ready for the creature to bite. With her arms pinned down and her weapon lost, she would have to hope her aura would survive the two large fangs in the Sabyr's mouth.

What she didn't expect was the beast to meow like a common house cat before licking her face. So startled she was, that she looked back, confusion taking over her whole body.

"Wha?" she released as the beast licked her again, this time her glasses flew up and got tangled in her hair as the giant cat kept licking her.

It began nuzzling her face, stepping forward to do so and freeing her arms. She slowly, cautiously reached up and pet its head.

It began purring almost immediately.

What the hell was happening? And why did she feel like it was Roman's fault?

* * *

Roman looked around as the others began gathering back up. The geist was still just standing there, watching in curiosity as the humans around it breathed in relief and counted all the dust.

Roman took this chance while everyone was distracted to quickly run over to the sedentary monster. He looked back to make sure nobody was looking.

Neo was, and she looked incredibly lost. He gave her his typical 'I'll tell you later' face and turned back to the geist. It looked down and grunted happily. It was about to clap it's large, icy hands but Roman stopped it with his cane.

"Get out of here! Go hide in the mountains or something!" he whisper yelled, pointing his cane up at the ceiling. He didn't know why he was trying to talk to a Grimm, let alone save one's life. It probably didn't even understand him! It's not like just because he had sex with Salem they'd just follow his—

His mouth hung open as the geist left it's icy body and quickly flew up and through the cave wall, out of the mine and away from him, leaving a smokey trail behind as it did.

The others turned as they heard the icy boulders falling to the ground. From where they stood, all they could see was the crumbling ice, Roman with his cane pointed up, and a cloud of smoke in the air.

"He... killed it that fast?" Harriet asked in shock.

"He killed it that quietly?" Elm added, just as surprised.

"Impressive..." Vine uttered.

As the others threw their two cents in about how amazing a hunter he was, he saw Neo and Ruby giving him shocked and confused looks. He just shrugged exasperatedly and gave them a face that said 'I don't even know myself!' causing the couple to sigh.

"Let's get out before something else goes wrong," Clover commanded as he walked towards a cave that would presumably lead them outside.

They walked for a few minutes before they came to the cave exit. They looked around, the Beacon crew looking for Glynda while the specialists searched for their evac ship.

They all heard someone muttering. They looked around. It sounded like... baby talk? Who was talking like that and why?

Their answer came when they turned to their right and saw Glynda, sitting on a rock and rubbing the stomach of a giant Sabyr. The beast looked happier than any giant man-eating cat should have the right to look.

"Who's a soft widdle kitty? And such big fangs you have," Glynda cooed as she scratched under its chin next. It purred, but due to its size it sounded like an engine being revved.

"What... the hell am I looking at?" Marrow asked, arms hanging limply by his sides at the sight.

Upon hearing the question Glynda froze completely. Confused as to why the attention stopped, the Sabyr looked up and over at them, still laying on its back.

It meowed loudly. Chew barked in response, tail wagging happily as he trotted over and sniffed its nose. It sniffed him back until their noses bumped into each other's. They halted for a moment before the Sabyr thrashed and jumped up, jumping around Chew. Chew barked and jumped around in the snow with the beast in response.

"Sooo..." Roman said, the first to break from his shocked stupor, "I see you made a friend."

Glynda blushed harder than he thought he'd ever seen her before. She hid her face in her hands, only letting out an embarrassed squeak. He chuckled and watched the Grimm and dog play in the snow together.

"How the hell did she...?" Harriet just pointed at the scene.

"Shouldn't we kill that thing?" Elm asked.

Immediately Glynda's blush faded. Her eyes were cold, murderous even. She stood from the rock she sat on and everyone felt the tundra they stood in somehow grow colder.

"If you lay a finger on Dante, I will not hesitate to throw you into the freezing waters of the Atlas Canal," she threatened.

"Dante? You named him?" Roman asked. He went entirely ignored.

"But... but it's a Grimm..." Marrow stuttered, frightened by the woman's ferocity.

"_He _is my new companion. And he will be treated with the same respect you would treat me with," she declared. Harriet growled.

"Wait wait wait, who ever said we needed to respect you—" Harriet was cut off as the entire snowfield within a fifty foot radius quite literally _ignited _and the snow around them melted away, exposing ground that hadn't seen the sun in perhaps decades.

Nobody said anything and the specialists all took a step back. The Beacon crew knew that the woman was a force to be reckoned with, but this was a new level of rage that was emanating from the woman.

"Okay, looks like we'll have to explain 'Dante' to Ironwood and Lil' Oz. Fun," Roman sighed. A whirring above signaled their ride back to Atlas.

The ship touched down and they all filed onto the ship. The pilot screamed and nearly passed out when a Sabyr that stood four feet at the shoulder daintily stepped into the ship and curled up at the foot of Glynda, who didn't even bat an eye at the creature's behavior.

Roman sat beside her, and Neo and Ruby sat beside him. Chew walked over and plopped down onto Dante, the two purring and snoring already. The others, with the exception of Roman, stared at the beast the entire ride home.

* * *

They touched down an hour later and Ironwood stood at the docking bay to congratulate them on their success.

The fit he threw when a Sabyr barreled out and started sniffing around his base was legendary. He wanted the beast out. He was ready to kill it when Glynda stepped forward herself, declaring that Dante would remain or she would leave. He would've argued more but Glynda left no room for it, stating that if it would be an issue she _would _be staying at an inn down in Mantle.

Nobody doubted her resolve. Ironwood twitched as the Sabyr rubbed itself along his body like a normal cat would do to one's leg.

Oscar had told them that there was still no sign of Ozpin, and that as a matter of fact, when they showed up with the pet Sabyr, he somehow felt the wizard's presence diminish _more._

Roman, Neo, Glynda, and Ruby stayed silent upon hearing that. If Ozpin didn't want to deal with Salem for now that was fine by them. If anything, it made it easier to carry out their own plan.

Fast forward about an hour to now. Roman sat awkwardly on his and Glynda's bed, Dante curled up on the floor on Glynda's side as she casually read a book with one hand, the other drifting down to lazily scratch his neck.

This wouldn't have been that awkward if it weren't for team MMMN and Ruby stood at the doorway. Neo and Ruby had come to ask why the hell the Grimm were being so... passive. The rest of Neo's team followed as they were the only people who were in the know about Roman and Glynda's... unique relationship with Salem.

Ruby had managed to break away from her own team stating that she and Neo were going to explore together. Her team, assuming they were actually going to be doing something nasty, let them be.

"Roman?" Glynda asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Mm?"

"Why have the Grimm not attacked us?" she asked.

"Eheh, ya see, funny story about that—" he stopped when she sent him an unimpressed and flat glare.

"Okay, so I might've forgotten to tell you three about something important," he said instead. He explained how even he himself had completely blanked on Salem's little enchantment on them, and that he was supposed to tell them much earlier.

"Wow," Mercury said, genuinely impressed, "I don't know what's more impressive; you guys having that skill or Roman somehow forgetting about it."

"You try and remember more than five things at a time when you're past thirty. It's harder than you'd think," Roman defended.

"So what, the Grimm just don't bother you?" Miltia asked. Roman shrugged but nodded.

"I'd like to look on the bright side here," Roman said.

"And that is?" Glynda asked. He smirked and brushed his hair from his eyes.

"We don't have to worry about a Grimm invasion while we threaten Jaques Schnee," he said innocently, even though the statement was anything but.

"We're not _threatening _Jaques," Glynda stressed, "were simply... persuading him behind his back."

"Face it Glyn," Roman chuckled, "you're a criminal now. A _bad guy._"

She scowled at him and he coughed into his hand. The others, not wanting to deal with the angry woman, accepted what they'd learned and stepped away, leaving Roman to fend for himself.

_Bastards._

"Are you going to clue me in as to what your plan is by the by? And what did Watts agree to send you?" she asked. He sighed but smiled.

"Oh Glynda, part of the majesty of the heist is the surprise!" he claimed. She continued looking at him expectantly.

He fidgeted and his smirk faltered before he caved after thirty seconds.

"Okay, fine!" he groaned, she gave him a satisfied huff.

"The plan is simple; using a little program that Watts whipped up, all we have to do is get into Jaques Schnee's personal computer. After that, all we have to do is plant little seeds of doubt in his name that'll tip off Ironwood and the other council members, and then when James is distracted with the internal corruption we'll swap the staff for this stone!" Roman said as he reached under his pillow and retrieved the stone Salem had created.

Glynda sighed and crossed her arms under her breasts. She raised an eyebrow at him and her lips thinned.

"And how are we getting into Jaques Schnee's personal office to do this?" she asked.

Roman smirked and opened his mouth to answer.

Then he froze.

_Ah shit._

"As I thought. You have no idea how we're going to reasonably infiltrate the Schnee Manor," she sighed. He cursed. So caught up in making a plan that would work, he didn't even think about how they'd get into the man's damn fortress of a mansion!

"Any ideas?" he asked hopefully. She sent him a sidelong look, a slight smirk just barely visible as she constrained her smugness.

"Oh? I thought you were the 'master criminal' here?" she jabbed. He hissed and turned fully to her, grabbing her arm and shaking her gently.

"Pleeeeeeease?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and she shook back and forth before bumping him to stop him. When he did she fixed her glasses and turned to face him.

"I think I know an easy way for us to get into the Schnee Manor," she said.

"Does it involve explosives? I'll get Neo to talk to Valkyrie and we'll blow that place sky high—"

"We're not blowing anything or _anyone _up!" she growled.

"Okay, then what are we doing?"

"If we can somehow get Jaques to think his campaign is at risk, there's no doubt in my mind he'll try reaching out towards James for support. And even though James doesn't like Jaques, he needs Jaques' dust support if he wants to carry out his plan for Amity," she explained. Roman nodded along. That made a lot of sense. But it still left the question...

"How do we get Schnee to vy for James' support?" he asked. They both sat in silence for a moment as they thought. At once their eyes lit up.

"Robyn Hill."

* * *

Robyn Hill considered herself a capable and for-the-people kind of person. She had spent her whole life for the opportunity to get a chance at this position, to really make a difference in the people of Mantle's lives.

She and her crew, which she and the people of Mantle referred to as her 'Happy Huntresses' did what they could to give the people of Mantle what was rightfully theirs.

She stood strongly against Jaques Schnee and the people of Atlas that thought they were above those down in Mantle. She even stood against General Ironwood, knowing that the resources he so callously poured into his army could be used for so much more.

People knew her for taking charge. Where others would waste time negotiating a deal that would never happen, she took action. Parents of Mantle told their kids about the mysterious and kind woman who stole from the privileged and gave to those who struggled.

So imagine her surprise when she was walking down the streets of Mantle at night, minding her own business and showing her face to the people, and a hand reached out from a nearby alley and covered her mouth as another set of arms pulled her in.

Her eyes widened when she was forcefully turned around and came face to face with someone she'd definitely seen before.

"Hello there," Roman smiled, Neo waving cutely beside him, "we would like to have a word with you Robyn Hill."

"You..." she mumbled as he let her go. She scanned him up and down. Bowler hat, white coat, notorious cane, dazzling eyes. There was no doubt, it was him.

"Roman Torchwick..." she said quietly. He threw his arms out.

"The one and only. Now I ask that you remain calm, I know I have somewhat of a bad reputation but I—"

"I'm a _huge _fan of your work!" she said loudly, purple eyes bright as she gazed into his own green ones.

"What?" he asked as the wind was taken from his sails.

"A few years back I would read the headlines about how you'd steal from the wealthy and make off in style! You're the reason I decided to start doing things my way! You were only a few years older than me, but it was enough to light a fire in my stomach!" she gushed. He looked at Neo, who looked more confused than disgusted for once.

"You uh, you don't say..." he said slowly.

"Oh! Allow me to introduce myself properly! I'm Robyn Hill, and I'm running for counsel this election," she beamed. Roman was thoroughly creeped out.

She had to be only about twenty eight or so, definitely no older than thirty, which put him around five or six years older than her. To see this kind of admiration from someone so close to his age was... off-putting, to say the least.

"Riiiight. Well... in that case, how'd you like to help me with a little... plan I've got going on here in the Atlas-Mantle area?" he asked, putting on his classic Torchwick charm (tm).

She looked like she's just been told she could live out her dreams. She took his hand and shook it furiously.

"What is it? How can I help? Are you stealing something? How much of it will go back to the people?" she asked.

He suppressed the urge to gag. Give back? To hell with giving back! Regardless, she wasn't going to help him steal much of anything. The only thing that needed to be stolen wasn't something she was allowed to know about.

"You won't be stealing anything per say," he didn't miss her slightly disappointed face, "but I am going to help you win this election."

Her disappointment died and was replaced with an even bigger smile than before.

"Really!?" she asked. She'd take all the help she could get, especially since she needed a way to win favor from Atlas as well as Mantle.

"Yes ma'am! But I need you to keep this between us okay?" he said. She nodded, but adopted a more confused and serious face.

"Why help me though?" she asked. Excitement aside, she wasn't stupid. Why would Roman Torchwick want to help her win? Surely he didn't actually care too much for Atlas politics considering he hauled from Vale.

"Well I'm trying to fuck with Jaques Schnee so I need—"

"Deal."

"I didn't even—"

"Doesn't matter. It's a deal. Does it annoy the General too?" she asked, dead serious on the question. Roman shrugged.

"Eventually," he replied.

"Double deal. Not only will I help, I won't even ask questions," she agreed. She stuck her hand out. He looked down at it and back up to her eyes. Her face was one of commitment and sureness.

"Well alrighty then!" he said, slapping his hand into hers, "can't wait to cause some trouble!" He looked down and noticed his hand glowed green for a moment and he raised an eyebrow.

"The hell was that?" he asked. She smiled at the color and released his hand.

"Just making sure you're not lying. Now that I know for a fact you'll be messing with the higher ups of Atlas, I'll lend you my full support," she said. He looked at the woman and smirked. Internally he and Neo were screaming however.

_She can detect lies!?_

That was especially bad for them.

Good thing she didn't do it any earlier.

"We'll be in touch Ms. Hill," he smirked. Neo did an extravagant flourish and bow.

"Please, Robyn is fine," she said. He cringed a little but nodded nonetheless.

With a wave of his hat, he and Neo shattered and disappeared. She smirked and resisted the urge to do a little dance.

This election was in the bag now.

Roman meanwhile was reveling in how easy that was. He and Neo strolled casually to the bullhead they'd 'acquired' and returned to Atlas. Roman smirked. This whole corrupting politicians thing was easier than he thought!

So why did it feel like he was forgetting something incredibly important again?

* * *

Winter walked through the halls of the Atlas facility. She reached a door and input several codes and went through several ID scans. After almost a full minute of this the door opened.

Inside was a table and two chairs, as well as a large machine, a bookshelf, and a bed. In said bed was an elderly woman with pale skin and white hair.

"Fria? How are you?" Winter asked as she came and stood before her. The woman smiled.

"I'm well, thank you," she smiled gently. Winter went about fixing a cup of tea.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked politely.

"I suppose I don't have much else to do," she said with only a hint of bitterness. Winter couldn't exactly blame her.

If you were essentially being held prisoner until you die by the government then you would probably be less than happy as well. That the woman hadn't just used her maiden powers to destroy the facility and freeze the city.

"Any recent developments out there?" the maiden asked, sipping the tea daintily. Winter hummed. What was there to talk about? It wasn't like the woman would be excited to hear about an election.

"I suppose there has been a lot more excitement lately what with a new band of hunters from Vale joining the specialists," she told her.

"Oh? And what makes them so exciting?" the woman asked. Winter grimaced, which caused the maiden to laugh a little.

What was there to say about the Beacon crew. They ranged from impressive and promising to despicable and questionable. Of course Weiss held her own position away from the rest. These thoughts must've shown on her face as Fria was laughing again.

"Well from that range of expressions you just put on I'd say they're a much more colorful bunch than the normal team," Fria said as she smiled knowingly at the specialist.

"Yes, they certainly are," Winter sighed.

But just how trustworthy were they? She thought she could trust all of them, but after today's events, well...

How the hell did Goodwitch tame a Sabyr?

Needless to say something was going on that they weren't telling the general. He was too focused on them agreeing to help with the Amity plan that he wouldn't dare insult them by calling them traitors. If he was wrong and they weren't, they wouldn't trust him or the specialists any longer, and they could end up losing powerful allies.

As Fria talked away, relieved to have something to do, winter could only hope that they made the right choice trusting so many old criminals.

Old habits die hard, after all.

* * *

**And we're done for now. Hooray for another pet! Fun fact, I named the Sabyr Dante because 'dant' is 'tooth' in Welsh, which is where Glynda's name derives from.**

**It was a slightly shorter chapter but that's because I didn't want to oversaturate it with too much detail. There's a lot that will happen that needs proper setting up.**

**NOW onto the exciting news! This fic is, sadly, nearing its end. I do not plan on going on any hiatus and then continuing after volume 8. I do not want to make anyone wait that long for a chapter. Now when I say "nearing its end" I do not mean we'll be done soon. I predict AT LEAST five or so more chapters.**

**As for the next story, I would like to tell you my two ideas:**

**-One is another RWBY story and I already have the title "Talk About a Role Reversal." The story will take most of the main cast of the show and swap their personalities, skills, and abilities with other characters. This was an idea I got years ago based on an art piece from Dashingicecream on Tumblr. Go check her out, she's an amazing artist!**

**-The other story IS NOT a RWBY story, and instead dips into the world of Monster Hunter (my favorite game) and would be an OC story titled "These Goddamn Monsters Won't Leave Me Alone.". Rest assured that for those of you who have never played a Monster Hunter game, they are not that hard to follow. Story has never been the game's strong suit so I am attempting to create my own within the universe.**

**Both would be humor stories as I can only do serious in short bursts of three paragraphs at a time.**

**I hope you all stay healthy, and remember to follow and review! For now have a wonderful time! And remember...**

**Don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Dante and Chew talk about the humans**

Chew and Dante lay on the bed of Roman and Glynda. The two had become fast friends and we're often found together now.

What the others didn't know was that they could understand one another.

**So which one is your master?**

Chew yawned and looked towards Dante.

_The one that doesn't talk and your master's mate! The one in grey is like my honorary master!_

Dante blinked.

**Grey? The man?**

Chew shook his head.

_No, the small one with the grey hood! Duh._

Dante looked confused. The one with the hood was more red than grey.

**I think you might be colorblind.**

Chew scoffed, but it sounded more like a woof.

_Who's ever heard of a dog being colorblind? That's ridiculous!_

Dante purred. That _did _sound a little far-fetched. Perhaps _he _was the colorblind one! What a scary thought...

**What about... her?**

Chew paused and shivered a little bit.

_It's best we don't interact with _her _too much. She can be dangerous._

**I know. She radiated more chaotic energy than any of my brethren ever have.**

Chew nodded. She was a hazard, and sometimes she could even hurt others without noticing!

_You should see her mate. He is more strong willed than anyone on this planet!_

**The one with the pink stripe in his hair?**

_Pink? It's a light grey._

Dante blinked. Wow, maybe he really was colorblind!

_Regardless, the hammer wielder is a threat that we must avoid._

Dante and Chew nodded in agreement. They would avoid the hammer wielder, as here crushing hugs were too dangerous for them.

"OH CHEEEEEEEW! DAAAAAAAANTE!" they heard a shout from outside the room and down the hall.

Uh oh.

**We must flee now friend.**

_Our very lives depend on it._

And so they ran. And Nora, thinking they were playing, like always, chased them.

Oh how they feared for their lives.


	28. Chapter 28

**So sorry for the time it took for this to come out! The end of my second semester and first year of college was something I had to put a lot more effort into once we moved online.**

**That and I lost motivation for a little bit. It happens.**

**At any rate, we're back again folks. Hope you are all doing well and that you're taking things easy.**

**Glad to see people excited for the new stories! Means a lot to me that you'd all be interested in reading more of my goofy work. More on those at the bottom.**

**Enough of me, I'll see you at the bottom!**

* * *

He moved quietly, necessary considering his task. He rounded the corner of an alley, the heaters in Mantle casting an orange glow on his legs only when he walked close to them.

Mercury peeked around the other end of the alley, looking left and right quickly. After being sure he was safe he kept moving. He was on a time limit, needing to get this done in one night lest they lose the chance to reach the people.

Roman had sent Mercury down, stating that he would meet with one of Robyn Hill's 'Happy Huntresses' to start the first phase of their plan. He was in the place they had said to meet, ready for a fight as always. He was looking for a faunus, and was told the signal would be obvious. What did that entail though? Obvious how?

"COCKADOODLEDOO! CHICKIREE CHICKIREE! HOOTIE HOO! SQUAK SQUAK GOES THE HAWK!" a screech came from above him. It had him grimacing in pain from the volume and pitch.

He looked up and saw a young looking girl with white hair and a green jacket. She had a long pitchfork across her back and was taking a breath to holler at him again.

Before she could he used his new legs to leap up and land in front of her, slapping a hand over her mouth.

"What the hell was that!?" he hissed, "signals are supposed to be succinct and difficult to understand!"

She mumbled something and he rolled his eyes before taking his hand off her face. She rolled her jaw before looking at him as though she had done nothing wrong.

"I'm Fiona!" she greeted. He grunted, but didn't give her his name. That was suicide in the criminal world, and unless you trusted the person or you were famous, you never gave someone your name.

"You're the chick Robert Hell sent?" he asked. She puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms with a humph.

"It's _Robyn Hill, _and yes, I am," she said. He shrugged and took out a small slip of paper. She raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" she asked. He opened the slip to its full length, just a normal sized piece of copy paper, and handed it to her.

"Get your other huntress friends to stake out these areas in the next week. It'll make all of our jobs easier," he said curtly. She looked over the crude map of Mantle, noting down the areas circled in red.

"And what's gonna happen in these places?" she asked. He smirked and shrugged.

"A little birdie told me that a string of crimes is about to start happening in Mantle and that having someone _other _than Ironwood's soldiers save the day will get the people singing those heroes praises," he said as he turned to leave. She ran forward and grabbed his wrist, but let go when he glared at her.

"What?" he asked, not really interested in the girl or her cause all that much. He was in this for the fun, and politics was definitely the opposite of fun.

"Are people going to get hurt?" she asked seriously. He said nothing, his face not even shifting from it's neutral glare.

After a minute he finally spoke up, his eyebrows spelling confusion but his eyes saying he knew everything.

"I'm sure they'll be _just fine_," he said, leaping to the next building before jumping off and out of sight.

Fiona sighed and looked back at the paper, taking a picture and sending it to Robyn. As always the woman replied immediately.

Fiona personally wasn't too happy with working with established criminals that had done much worse than just stealing, but Robyn had assured her that it was okay to commit crimes to win the election since Jacques Schnee had definitely done worse before.

What weighed more on her shoulders? Helping corrupt an election or the chance of Jacques Schnee winning?

That one was pretty obvious.

She left through the fire escape and made her way back to Robyn to tell her what the strange boy had mysteriously and vaguely told her.

Surely they wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

* * *

"Neo, I need you to go hurt people," Roman ordered as he looked his daughter in the eyes from across the table.

"Roman!" Glynda shouted, stomping a foot down.

"What?" he whined, "Trust me on this one, will ya? We're professionals at this!"

Neo looked all too happy to have a chance to go out and cause trouble again. Ruby gave her a scolding look, but she deftly ignored her and bowed theatrically to Roman.

"Roman, we _are not _sending Neo to hurt random, likely innocent citizens!" Glynda raged. He put his hands up.

"She's not gonna hurt anyone per say, just... rough 'em up a bit. Get them scared and needing a hero," he explained. She looked pissed still, but didn't move to shout again.

"Besides, you and Red have a part to play here," he said shortly after. Ruby immediately stopped pouting at Neo to look at Roman in shock.

"What!? I actually have to do crimes!?" she asked. He rolled his eyes.

"First of all, don't say things like 'do crimes' it makes you sound like a cop," he said and she deflated, "and second, yes, you do."

She let out a little 'aww' but Neo patted her back and gave her a thumbs up. Glynda just looked at him, unimpressed.

"And what are we doing?" she asked.

"Easy. While Neo, Merc, and the twins go around wreaking havoc, you and Red will be doing a little slandering of our good friend Jacques," he stated, stepping over a snoring Dante to grab a stack of papers he had printed out.

"Slandering?" she asked. Ruby had a finger to her chin, also confused.

"The man relies heavily on the fact that he can essentially buy the vote of the people up here in Atlas, so you two are going to change their opinions on the rich bastard," he explained. Glynda still looked lost.

"And how do you expect us two to do that?" she asked. He laughed.

"That's the easy part," he said as he straightened his coat, "you two are going to go around dropping off these."

He slapped the mountain of papers down and the two looked over them. Ruby looked at them in horror, the sight before her too evil to witness.

"So many numbers! Such a small font size! Are these... are these..."

"Tax reforms," Glynda uttered, glaring at the stack of papers as though it would kill her. She had seen her fair share of the forms in her time at Beacon.

"Not just tax reforms. _Forged _tax reforms," he stated proudly. He'd stayed up all night faking them.

"But... why?" Glynda asked. He walked over to the door and grabbed his cane, which had been resting against the wall.

"The rich love their money more than anything. Show them that dust is about to be a lot more expensive and that the stock will tank and they'll be a lot less friendly to our slave-driving friend," he claimed as he opened the door.

"And where are you going?" Glynda asked as she picked up the stack of papers, holding them away from herself as though they'd vomit all over her.

"To keep James and his little boy scouts busy the best way I know how," he stated.

"How's that?" Ruby asked. He laughed.

"Just setting the fires of revolution."

* * *

Yang thought herself fairly perceptive. It was hard not to be when your primary means of fighting was high-speed hand to hand combat with shotguns strapped to your arms. She knew her friends and family well, and she knew when they were acting off.

That's why she raised an eyebrow at the giant and clearly fake smile Ruby was wearing right now. Neo had noticed and nudged the reaper, but she had responded by smiling wider, earning a facepalm from the mute girl.

Yeah, there was definitely something going on there and Yang was willing to bet it wasn't just a lovers quarrel. She wouldn't be a good sister if she didn't stick her nose in her sister's business.

They had all gathered in the same meeting room they'd been starting their days in since they arrived in Atlas. It was where they prepped for the day's missions and tasks. Ruby, Neo, and Glynda had arrived a little later than normal, but Yang assumed that Goodwitch had found the two and dragged them here. Chew had walked in happily, Dante prowling his way in after the dog. That was its own can of worms and Yang needed to focus on her sister.

Now the real question was: did she put her on the spot here, in front of everyone or take her aside and ask her by herself? Ruby was bad when there were a lot of eyes on her but she was equally as bad when Yang gave her the 'big sister' look.

"Ruby, why on Remnant are you smiling like a lunatic?" Weiss asked suddenly, everyone turning their attention to the girl.

That worked too, the brawler thought to herself.

"What do you mean Weiss? I'm fine! We're all fine! And we're gonna go out and do hunter work!" Ruby said, laying it on way too thick. Most of them passed it off as the girls normal excited nature when it came to all things hunter related but Yang knew better. Apparently, so did Penny.

"Oh! But friend Ruby, your heart rate is incredibly high right now! Are you experiencing a cardiac arrest? I am equipped with built in defibrillators!" Penny offered, concerned for her friend. Her hands rubbed together, a high pitched _whirr _sounding as her hands charged with electricity.

"GAH! DON'T DEFIBRILLATE ME!" Ruby cried, hiding behind Neo who looked very betrayed that she had been demoted to human shield.

"Ruby, what's got you so on edge?" Yang asked, worried for her sister. She was normally hyper but this was... well this was just a tad strange.

"Um... uh... oh! Wouldja look at that! No time to talk right now!" Ruby claimed as she pointed towards the door where a group of people marched in. The girl sighed in relief as they all turned from her.

In that moment Neo flicked her in the temple. When the young reaper looked at her in shock Neo raised an eyebrow and looked at her pointedly.

_Calm down babe you're scaring the kids, _she signed. Ruby let out a sigh of defeat and hunched over. How did Neo and Mercury and the twins not freak out knowing they were doing bad things!?

The ace-ops filed in cordially, and Ironwood marched in behind them, standing at the front of the room. He gazed over the occupants and raised an eyebrow.

"Where's Torchwick?" he asked, looking to Glynda. She sighed and pushed her glasses up as Dante rubbed himself along her leg, an action that still put the cybernetic man on edge.. She dragged her hand along his head and back unconsciously.

"Roman decided that rather than assist us in the city or on the site, he'd rather roam the streets of Mantle looking for, and I quote, '_pimp activity_' and then left. I haven't seen him for the last half hour," she told him.

The others all stared at her, nobody saying a word.

"O...kay then," Ironwood said slowly turning to the screen beside him, "well, we still have work that needs to be done and it needs to be done as efficiently as possible. If you'll look here we have a mission in the city that requires—"

He was cut off when a notification appeared on the monitor in the corner, a small alert exclamation point blinking. He narrowed his eyes and tapped the screen, redirecting the display to the news.

"_I'm Skip Larson from channel three! We're here live on the streets of Mantle! A local bakery known for its outstanding charity has just combusted into flames, and emergency responders are doing their best to put the fires out! The cause of this fire is unknown..."_

They all looked back at the general as the report became standard fare journalism. Blake was the first to voice her confusion.

"Why is a bakery fire cause for an alert signal?" she asked. Before anyone could reply, the anchor spoke up again.

"_We have word another location has just caught fire! The park for the sick and elderly has also just burst into flames!"_

Now they all started tensing. A local business catching fire was bad news for sure, but nothing that firefighters couldn't handle themselves without the aid of hunters. But two locations on fire? At the same time?

"Maybe we should—" Jaune was cut off by the reported speaking up once more.

"_What!? The orphanage for specifically adorable baby animals has also caught—"_

"OKAY WE'RE GETTING DOWN THERE!" Clover shouted, everyone getting up to run from the room to get to the city. Somebody was starting these fires and it was their job to stop them. The negativity from such a thing could bring a lot of Grimm into the city.

What madman could be doing such a thing to all these nice places!?

Ironwood broke off and headed towards the backup comms room, the first still a wreck from when they'd crashed a bullhead through it. He ordered them all to hurry while he got in contact with the fire department to work with his soldiers.

Glynda had a feeling she had just witnessed the fires of revolution that Roman had mentioned. She'd have words with him about them being _literal _fires later. She had brought the false forms with her and had them in a small bag that lay on her hip. She tapped Ruby on the shoulder and gestured to the bag.

The young reaper looked between the woman and the news rapidly. She tried forming words but couldn't seem to find any. Neo seemed to have the answer she wanted.

_Don't worry about it, Roman starts fires all the time! If he wanted those people dead then they'd be dead! _Neo said proudly. That didn't assuage Ruby the way she thought it would and Glynda rubbed her temples.

"I'm going to kill him," she mumbled before filing out of the room. She looked back and cleared her throat. Ruby eeped before running and catching up with the woman. Neo flipped backwards onto Chew and pointed forward, the dog barking before dashing down the hall. She blew a kiss to Ruby as they rounded the corner and joined the others.

"Does that mean that instead of helping we have to go do bad guy stuff?" Ruby asked. Glynda sighed.

"Yes Miss Rose, it would appear so," she groaned as she walked quickly down the hall. Rather than turn the way the others went, she continued forward. Dante strode next to her, circling between her and Ruby as they walked.

This went against everything she had ever trained for and believed in. She was a huntress, a teacher, and she was about to leave who knows how many buildings to burn. She had to remind herself that the alternative was God literally coming back down to Remnant and erasing all traces of the planet forever.

She held her resolve. If it meant the entire world had a chance at surviving, they could burn the entire kingdom of Vacuo.

Unless they burned themselves down first. You never knew with Vacuo.

They missed someone seeing them go in a different direction, and didn't hear or see when they followed them out of the academy.

* * *

Mercury made sure when their bullhead touched down that none of the others had landed near them. They had separated into teams and split up to cover the entire city. Whatever Roman was doing, he was doing it fast since on their way down four more fires were reported.

"So what are we doing?" he asked once he was sure they were alone. The twins made sure their new dust chambers were loaded before retracting their blades. Neo meanwhile pet Chew, who licked her hand happily.

"Roman said we had to make sure we can keep everyone busy and distracted until Goodwitch and Ruby are done and this Robyn Hill looks like a hero," Miltia said as she pulled out a bag and retrieved it's contents.

"Masks, huh?" he asked as she handed him one shaped like a silver skull. Hers and Melanie's were black and white cat masks, complete with ears and a nose.

Neo was the only one who didn't get a mask, but her semblance allowed her and Chew to look however she wanted. It was pretty funny when the dog barked before appearing as a motorcycle. A large helmet with a pitch black visor manifested on Neo's head as she hopped on the dogs back.

"So we just go and fuck shit up so these 'Happy Huntresses' get some PR?" he clarified. Melanie rolled her eyes from under her mask.

"Wreck street signs, toss trash cans around, take out people's sideview mirrors, hell you can push someone over as long as we don't actually hurt the civies," Miltia explained. He shrugged.

"Sounds like a Thursday night," he commented as he put the mask on and tapped his feet on the ground.

"Make sure that our people don't see you and that the cameras don't catch you. Even with masks, us three won't be able to stay hidden if they catch us," Melanie said. He nodded and they all set off, ready to make a scene.

Meanwhile on the other side of the city, Roman was smoking a cigar while talking to an older man.

"So you're saying if I let you set my business on fire you'll pay me triple what the original building was worth?" the man asked.

"Well you'll certainly get the money, but I'm not gonna be the one paying you," Roman said, having already told Watts his plan. The man would be wiring people 'insurance claims' that would come after this unfortunate mass arson.

"Hrmm, I don't know..." he mumbled, clearly skeptical. All of them had been but Roman offered the man the same out he'd offered all the other people whose livelihoods he'd burned down.

"Either I burn it down and you get money or I burn it down regardless and you get nothing," he said flatly, already having done this seven times before this.

"Well when you put it like that you can go right ahead!" the man said, afraid and stepping back. Roman tipped his hat to him and shot a flare through the window.

"Pleasure doing business with you. Don't worry about giving me your information, my friend will be sure to get the money in your hands," the thief said as he strolled away.

Now came the hard part.

Getting the Atlas forces attention was easy, they were a prideful bunch so light a fire here, throw some stones there and they'd be scrambling to show the world how well they could handle the situation.

The hard part was keeping the forces from actually helping.

Robyn and her Laughing Lesbians or whatever she called them would need to get the spotlight for this, which meant no ace-ops, no specialists, no general, and no huntsman could help here. This would be a pain in the ass but he was willing to bet good money this would do the trick.

"Okay Watts, let's see if you know your stuff..." he mumbled as he held up the scroll Watts had sent him via carrier nevermore.

He thumbed through it and looked over the encryptions. He needed to be somewhere central so this would do the most.

Luckily for him, he'd set his fires in a pattern. Not that you'd be able to tell from the ground or the news, but from above he'd been spiraling his way from the outskirts of Mantle towards the center.

He pressed the icon on the scroll. It grew hot and he tossed it up in the air, aware of what would happen next.

Hacking Atlas remotely would take too long and even if Watts was an expert, he was still just one man. He'd need time and enough distractions to hack the city by this point. That's why Roman hadn't asked him for a hack.

The scroll in the air surged with electricity before making a loud yet dull _THUMP._ A wave of static shot out and dispersed into the air. Roman looked around for a moment and waited, taking in the serenity, the burning building two blocks behind him not included, of the lights in Mantle.

Then all the lights went out, starting from where he stood and rapidly shutting down around him like a wave. While it was still morning, the cloudy nature of the Atlesian tundra made the entire city dark.

The screaming came next. One would expect Grimm to have arrived as well, but he'd asked Salem to hold them off while he did this. He needed Robyn to save people who weren't really in danger. Grimm killed, but he knew how _not _to kill people.

His real scroll rang and he picked it up. It was Qrow.

"_Roman where are you!? The city's—"_

"On fire? Ya don't say. I was down here when they started. I've been looking around since the second one popped up," the thief cut him off. Qrow grunted.

"_The kids and the ace-ops are running around the city right now trying to find who's doing this. We also lost that bucket of bolts. Have you seen anyone who looks susp— what? What do you mean gangsters!?" _Qrow was talking with Clover. Roman raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on now?"

"_Apparently some unknown group of bastards has been spotted running around and terrorizing the streets. We're talking some real anarchy kind of stuff here Roman," _Roman was simply checking his nails as he held the device up to his ear with his shoulder.

"_Trash cans thrown through windows."_

Check.

"_People getting robbed and attacked."_

Check.

"_Cars being driven into shit with no thought!"_

That one sounded improvised and definitely like Mercury. Check anyways, he supposed.

"_We gotta get a handle on this before Grimm get into the city!"_

"I'm on it. You tell the kids and Ironwood's boy scouts to handle the fires. I'll get Glynda and Neo's team to help me with these wannabe anarchists," Roman said. Qrow shot back his affirmative and Roman could hear him telling the others the plan. When he heard agreement he smirked. Too easy.

"_Shit I almost forgot. Ruby must've bolted off once we got here and we were too busy trying to figure this out that we lost her. You have any lead on her?" _Qrow asked him. His jaw clicked shut. Damn! He didn't have an excuse ready for this one! Red and Glynda were supposed to get away without anyone noticing!

"Uh, nope! Maybe she's chasing those guys you mentioned! You know how Red is when it comes to sticking her nose in criminal activity! I'll have Neo keep an eye out while we look for them!" he made up on the spot. Qrow seemed too focused on the chaos around them to read into it anymore. He thanked the crook and hung up.

_Okay Robyn, any minute you wanna come out now, _the thief thought to himself as he ducked into an alley. If the woman didn't follow through than he risked all of this for nothing!

* * *

Robyn watched as her Happy Huntresses helped another civilian to their feet. When Roman had said he'd cause a scene, she didn't think he'd meant he'd set a sixth of the city on fire and rob the other five sixths!

She recalled the map he'd sent her and pulled out the paper, looking it over. This was one of the areas and it was marked with a two. The one marked with one had been a burning building that they'd helped people out of.

This one was a seven car pile up that was also on fire. Seemed the crook had a thing for that.

She dreaded what the other locations held. According to the plan he'd given her, he would have some of his own people running around causing trouble for her to stop. When she'd asked what they looked like he laughed and said she couldn't miss them.

The person who just drove their motorcycle through the wall of a convenience store and out the other end looked like they might be one of those individuals. Oddly enough the motorcycle didn't make much noise. And was that a dog barking? Where was that even coming from!?

She made sure she had bolts with her so she could make sure to put on a good show with the person. Whoever Roman had hired, they sure knew how to make a mess.

* * *

Neo rubbed Chew's head as they crashed through a park, tearing through a tree and he bolted around the block. Or rather, what everyone else saw was a masked biker revving their cycle as they power drifted around the corner.

Damn she loved her semblance. It might not have made things real but it made for a damn good show.

On the roof of the buildings above she saw two women leaping from rooftop to rooftop and keeping track of her. Looked like those were the ones she was supposed to find.

She raised her hands to them and made a bird, moving her hands as though the hand-bird was flapping its wings. She caught their nods and made sure she drove towards an area that would have some onlookers.

Luckily for her, Chew ran right into the center of an intersection that had soldiers guiding lines of people to safety. Neo tapped Chew's armored head and he barked before running at the two soldiers standing side by side.

They only stood a moment longer before, much to the horror of the people they were leading, a motorcycle crashed into them and sent them flying through a window. They didn't get up, but the slight movement meant they weren't dead.

The person on the motorcycle was about to drive away when two women jumped from the roof of a nearby building and landed in front of and behind them. The cyclist leaned forward and the two tensed.

"All of you! Run! We'll hold them off! We have friends three blocks down and off of Main Street! They'll meet you and get you to safety!" one of the women shouted.

She dodged to the side as the anarchist shot past her and the motorcycle skid to a halt, turning and facing them both now.

"GO!" they yelled again. The people ran and shouted their thanks as the cyclist sped toward the two women again.

It slowed to a stop right in front of them as they leaned over to make sure none of the people were looking back.

"Um, are you one of Romans friends?" one of them asked. Her semblance faded away and Neo and Chew stood there instead. Neo smirked and nodded.

"Huh. Cute dog," the other commented. She puffed up proudly and Chew barked happily before her semblance covered her again and she nodded, Chew turning and running away.

"Okay, I guess we should make ourselves look roughed up," the two laughed at the situation and began making their way back to Robyn.

As Neo and Chew ran off to cause more trouble, she wondered how Ruby was doing.

* * *

_Ha! Crime isn't that hard after all! Neo and Roman always made it sound like it was something you had to train at!_

Ruby smiled as she dashed from mansion to mansion, slipping false documents and evil tax reforms into elegant mailboxes that easily cost more than her family's cabin.

This was easy! She thought you were supposed to feel evil while doing crime! This was more like running an errand. And Ruby was great at running so this was nothing!

"I see the look in your eyes Ms. Rose. While I'm happy to see you're not dejected in what is definitely an illegal act, do keep in mind that this is nothing compared to what Roman and the others are doing below us in Mantle," Glynda said as Ruby zipped back from the most recent mansion and grabbed another stack of forgeries from the woman.

Ruby grumbled at that. Let her have this! Neo already teased her about how bad she was at being bad!

Dante had been helping too, running around and dripping the papers in front of doors. Glynda smiled as he returned and pet him. Ruby asked the woman a question she had since that morning.

"Ms. Goodwitch? What if the rich people don't believe these? It's kinda weird that they'd walk outside and randomly find these and just buy it," Ruby said, head tilted.

At any other time Glynda would agree with the girl. This however was a question with a simple answer.

"Ms. Rose, where are we right now?" Glynda asked.

"Atlas?" Ruby said, confused why she had been asked in the first place.

"And what do you know about Atlas?" Glynda asked.

"That it floats!" she said. Everyone knew that!" Glynda nodded.

"Tell me Ms. Rose, do you think people rich and pretentious enough to live in a massive floating city care about money?" she asked. Ruby didn't even hesitate.

"They probably do!" she said. Then she went silent before the 'ohhhhh' came out.

"The people here will see any threat to their wealth as a very real offense," Glynda stated. She knew the type. Years as Beacon's secretary meant she had to deal with all the rich and spoiled children who thought throwing their money around could solve any issue that arose in the school.

Those were always some of her favorite students to put in their place. Normally through some act fear or threat. She sighed as she remembered those days. Simpler times.

Dante suddenly went on alert mode. Glynda noticed and her eyes narrowed.

"Is someone coming?" Ruby asked. Glynda held up a hand to silence the girl.

They waited for a tense moment. Neither said anything, both ready as the woman sensed a presence nearby.

"I... suppose it was nothing..." Glynda said, still on edge.

"But Dante still looks ready to pounce," the young reaper pointed out, the Grimm indeed looking ready to leap at something. It seemed that even he couldn't see it however, but his hackles were still raised as he scanned around.

"We should hurry then. If any soldiers see us while the others are all burning the city down we may be in trouble," Glynda said, rolling her eyes at Roman's plan as she and the young girl hustled to get the deed done faster.

As they did, they seemed to miss one thing.

The blur of bright green that frantically streaked away and towards Mantle. Whatever it had just witnessed was clearly enough to cause it to panic.

Rightfully so if what she just heard was right.

"Friend Ruby..." Penny mumbled as she flew back down to help save the people in Mantle.

Apparently from her own friends.

* * *

**A short chapter for the first time since I started. Apologies but this is a setup for the coming events of this fic. Even today's omake is setup, I just couldn't find a place to put it in the main bulk of the story. The end is near.**

**And yes that's right, the end.**

**Not next chapter, or even the chapter after that, but very soon. I hope to finish this story before it's one year anniversary.**

**Onto the other two stories I mentioned.**

**Glad to see people excited for 'Talk About a Role Reversal'. I'm very excited to start getting into that story and I can't wait to hear from you guys once it starts going up.**

**As for the Monster Hunter story, I likely won't do two stories at once. I wanna make sure I'm giving my stories the attention they need and if I'm doing two that just won't happen.**

**Make sure to follow if you want to see more and favorite if you like the story! Thank you for your continued support and love for this! Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**Have a wonderful time.**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: The Happy Huntresses 'save' the day**

"I've vanquished you foul criminal!" Fiona shouted as she landed what was, to the untrained civilian, a devastating blow against the anarchist.

Mercury almost forgot he was supposed to be hurt, catching himself before toppling over and holding his arm tightly.

"You bitch! You and your Dandy Dancers or whatever will pay for this!" he said, clearly not even trying to sound hurt or halted in his evildoing.

"It's 'Happy Huntresses'!" Fiona stomped. He rolled his eyes.

"Mommy is the bad man gonna go to jail and die?" he heard a child ask their mother. What kind of question was that!?

"I hope so sweetie. For now stay close to mommy and let the kind woman save us."

What kind of answer was that!? _I hope so_!? What ever happened to rehabilitation!?

"Now come quietly or face the might of _Robyn Hill _and her huntresses!" Fiona said, putting a _ton _of extra emphasis on Robyn's name. Gotta sell the people on it somehow, he supposed.

Hopefully the twins were putting on a better show.

* * *

"Was that too much?" Melanie asked the woman on the street. She groaned as the twins looked over her.

"A-aren't you two supposed to lose the fight?" she asked, sore from the savage beating she had received from the two girls.

As if remembering _just then _they both threw themselves backwards and held each other close, like children afraid and gripping one another for comfort.

"Y-you! Curse the huntresses of a like, surely powerful and strong leadership figure!" Miltia shouted, the onlookers blinking.

Was that the huntress's semblance? We're the two girls beaten that easily?

The woman realized it was her time to sell the show so she cleared her throat and stood, still miffed that the twins had _actually _fought her and laid her out like that.

"That's right! Robyn Hill won't stand for people like you trying to ruin our city!" she said valiantly.

The people watching cheered.

_Idiots, _the twins and huntress thought in disappointment.

"We'll be back to terrorize these people again! Like, mark our words!" Melanie yelled.

"Like, totally!" Miltia added. The two then used their weapon's new functions and slashed them together, creating a bright flash and leaving while everyone was blinded.

That was a shitshow. They both said as much.

"Think that's enough?" Miltia asked. Melanie shrugged. That was the third time they'd been 'defeated' today.

"Maybe," she said as they removed their masks and crushed them, tossing them away. Would this really make a difference?

* * *

Robyn looked at the screen in shock.

What an astronomical difference this had made.

It seemed as though the rich people in Atlas had a change of heart too.

The election progress was displayed brightly in front of her.

_Jacques Schnee: 21%_

_Robyn Hill: 79%_

"I can't believe this worked," she mumbled. And to think.

They said cheaters never prosper.


	29. Chapter 29

**Let's go.**

* * *

Roman leaned back in the destroyed public bench, taking in the sight of the smoldering city before him.

No lives lost. Not a single one. Property damage abound and people scared shitless, but everything was okay. He checked his scroll as it dinged and smirked at the message.

_All forgeries delivered. Heading down now. Cover for us._

Oh Glynda, of course he would cover. Something like this wasn't just something you wanted getting out to people. He looked up at the monitor, one that hadn't been shattered in the kids anarchy spree, and looked at the news. The headlines read the same on every station.

_Robyn Hill: Hero of Mantle._

_Robyn Hill and her Huntresses save the day!_

_Mantle's new protectors?_

_Does the general need to worry about someone taking his place?_

Roman laughed at the last one. Solving petty crimes that you knew were coming in advance was one thing. Leading an army and an academy for kids with, essentially, super powers?

Robyn Hill wouldn't take the general's place, he was sure of it.

What she would be taking however...

"_... And now our big story of the night; Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses! These brave women of Mantle stepped up in the people's time of need and valiantly fought off the criminals that terrorized our fair nation!"_

Roman patted himself on the back. His plan had done what it needed to. The news before him was singing the woman's praises and the people were doing much the same. Everywhere he looked the citizens of Mantle were ecstatic that such a noble and strong leader had risen up. She would be getting the majority vote in Mantle for sure.

As for the Atlas vote...

_"And in other news the recent accusations against Jacques Schnee's tax evasion and the plummeting prices of dust! Many CEOs in Atlas have confirmed their refusal to back the SDC until Mr. Schnee is able to stabilize his company."_

That worked perfectly too, as expected of one of _his _plans! The Atlas vote would either go to Robyn, or nobody at all, but that worked in their favor too. Even if nobody in Atlas voted for her, they most certainly wouldn't vote for Jacques now.

All in all? A very successful start to this heist.

"We're back old man," a younger voice announced from his left. Out of an alley, team MMMN and Chew walked his way.

"Well done kids, you managed to both terrify and empower the people of Mantle, all in one day. Fancy that, huh?" he smirked. They laughed and joined him in watching the news. Other civilians had gathered and were watching as well, with the large monitor being one of the few that hadn't been destroyed in the kids assault.

He heard someone shouting and looked up. Neo looked too but it was far too late as a red missile toppled her to the ground.

"Hello to you too Red," Roman greeted. Glynda walked over casually, Dante at her hip and walking forth languidly.

"Did it work?" she asked. He scoffed and gestured to the screen.

"Such little faith Glyn," he teased. She rolled her eyes but it lacked any real annoyance. She took a seat beside him as they watched footage of the 'anarchists' fighting Robin's own huntresses. It was... poorly recorded.

"Was this filmed on a potato?" Mercury asked, not even able to make out himself as he watched the 'fight'. Really it was obvious they weren't fighting but nobody seemed to notice. Untrained and no aura, they didn't know what a real fight looked like unless it was during a tournament.

"Take it as a blessing kid. They're saying that's some of the best footage they found. That means you're all in the clear," he stated. They shrugged and Neo raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed and waved her off.

"Watts already told me he sent the money through. I don't think anyones gonna be pointing any fingers my way after they get that check," he assured. They all relaxed. The first phase was done.

Which meant that hopefully...

Roman and Glynda's scrolls rang. Glynda opted to take this one and Roman let it pass.

"James," she greeted. He nodded in return.

"Glynda. Is Roman with you?" he asked. She turned the scroll to the crook and the kids. He sent the man a short two finger salute.

"Good then. This attack was... unexpected. Especially with all that we've been preparing for," he said. Glynda nodded, knowing damn well that's why the plan worked so well.

"You all should return to the academy ASAP. I've received an... unexpected, and frankly, unwanted invitation that we need to discuss," he told her. She nodded and told him they'd return now before hanging up.

"It's working," she announced to the group, "I believe Jacques is attempting to beg for the general's support. Well, as close to begging as that man will get."

Roman winked at her before standing. He twisted to rid himself of any kinks in his back before shaking the feeling away.

"Let's go kids, we've still got work to do," he ordered. They all sighed, but followed anyway.

"What about Hill?" Glynda asked. Roman shrugged.

"Dunno, don't care. She got what she wanted and we got what we wanted. That's the end of our working relationship," he claimed. Glynda just nodded. It was true they didn't need the woman going forward. She got her victory and they got their invitation.

"So how do we go about step two?" she asked as they boarded the bullhead back up to Atlas. Roman shook his head and smiled.

"You all just need to keep the eyes off of me. I'll be handling step two alone," he assured. She frowned but didn't argue. The man knew this kind of thing better than her. Somehow that fact didn't bother her at all. Likely because she never intended to be a criminal in the first place.

"Schnee mansion, here we come," he said quietly.

"Wait, what about the Colosseum project? Doing all of this is great and all, but if Ironwood still gets that arena up and going then wouldn't this all be for nothing?" Mercury asked.

Roman hummed.

That was a fair point. There was also the winter maiden. But would that be an issue? Apparently the maiden was old, and if they did things right then they wouldn't even notice anything differently for them to transfer the maidens powers.

Honestly, once someone had the Ric what was the point of the maidens? They were powerful for sure but they were, at the end of the day, pretty much just keys.

"I have a plan for the arena. Let's just focus on getting what we need out of the Schnee Manor," he claimed. They all nodded and drifted into a comfortable silence.

There were more crimes to commit.

* * *

Only three days later did they find themselves being driven to Jacques Schnee's attempt at salvaging his reputation.

Ironwood had indeed received an invitation to the Schnee Manor. As had most of the elite in Atlas. It looked like Jacques was more desperate than they'd assumed he'd be.

Roman made sure he had the virus that Watts made ready. It wouldn't be as flashy as Roman normally liked, but it would definitely get the general's attention.

They had all been told to join James as his personal guard. Quite a large personal guard to be sure, but then, with Mantle having just been attacked, James wasn't taking any chances.

As they pulled to a stop and stepped out, Roman whistled at the mansion. Big didn't begin to describe it.

It was like a fucking castle!

This place probably had its own area code!

They all walked to the large front doors of the mansion and Roman looked at the large, ornate door knocker. He understood over the top and gaudy, but this was a new level of wealth he hadn't seen before.

The doors opened to reveal...

"Who's the twink?" Mercury asked. The twins both elbowed him in a different kidney, causing the assassin to crumple.

Whitley took the comment in stride, instead greeting the group with a practiced smile.

"Hello General Ironwood. We in the Schnee Manor are happy to welcome you into our home," he said with ease. He'd likely been saying it all night, and if the look in his eyes was any indication, he truly didn't care for any of the people who had stepped through those giant doors.

"Whitley!" Weiss called as she pushed her way forward. The smile on his face seemed to change immediately upon seeing the girl. She hugged him and he gently embraced her back.

"When you said you'd be back, I didn't think it'd be with a veritable army in your side," he commented. She rolled her eyes, smiling still.

"I promised I'd be back. I never said who'd be with me when I returned," she smirked.

A cough behind them signaled that the others had all been watching and waiting to be let in from the cold. Weiss had the decency to blush and Whitley coughed into his hand.

"Right, we'll catch up more inside. Welcome to the Schnee Manor," he greeted. They all strolled inside. Ironwood said something about cutting to the chase and left to find Jacques. The ace-ops went with him.

That left teams RWBY, JNPR, and MMMN along with Penny, Roman, Winter, Qrow, and Glynda. The pets had needed to stay behind. Nothing like a giant dog and a big ass demon cat to scare the guests.

Pyrrha had already managed to draw a crowd, which her team sought to disperse as quickly as possible. Mercury had stepped away, and the twins followed to make sure he didn't cause a ruckus.

Weiss took her team and Whitley aside to introduce everyone. Neo had gone with Ruby seeing as her team had left her. Winter had joined halfway with a strained look on her face. When _Whitley _of all people told her to relax, she had actually laughed. It had been awhile since she'd seen her brother. It looked like he'd finally come into his own.

Glynda walked off with Qrow, the latter stating he needed to find a drink and Glynda claiming that she'd be monitoring him to make sure there wasn't a repeat of the 'Wedding Travesty of O'Six'. Oscar joined them so as not to be left alone.

That just left...

"Hey, kid, shouldn't you be with the general or something?" Roman asked Penny, who had seemed... tense. She jolted when he spoke to her.

"What!? Me!? Um, not at all! _hic! _I am free to roam as I see fit and _certainly _not to confirm any suspicions I may or may not have about something! _hic!_" she then sent him a giant smile that screamed 'believe me!' and he looked left and right.

This kid scared him. He needed to ditch her.

That and he had crimes to commit.

"Well... that's definitely... a plan?" he tried. She seemed to think that was normal because she nodded in relief and stayed exactly where she was.

"Okay well, I'm gonna find a bathroom sooo..." he took one step away from her.

She took one towards him.

He took two more. So too did she.

He raised his leg to take another.

He stared at her outstretched leg as she stared at him.

"Right then," he said.

_What the fuck does she want!?_

"I think it would be beneficial if you were to remain in my sights! That way I can ensure that you are... safe! _hic! _From potential intruders!" she claimed.

Okay so robot chick must've blown a fuse. He needed a way to distract her. How do you distract a robot though?

_Think, think... Wait, that's it! Thinking!_

"This statement is false," he said suddenly.

"No it is—" she froze, "wait. Um. If it's false, then it's true. But then that makes it false. But that proves it true again..."

The girl just stood there repeating herself. He slowly crept away, keeping an eye on her the whole time. She didn't move from where she stood. Most guests steered clear of her, slightly afraid of the girl mumbling the same thing to herself over and over again.

He snuck off and made his way around the manor. The place was so big, he felt like he needed a goddamn directory to get around!

All the doors looked the same and all the decor was so far apart that the halls all blended together!

Finally, after what felt like forty straight minutes of walking around, he found, what he believed to be, Jacques' office. It just felt... officey!

That and Roman was just trying doors by this point.

He opened the door and closed it quietly, before turning and taking in the room before him.

It certainly looked like a personal study. Bookshelves lined the walls, there were armchairs and glass cases holding liquor and other rarities. There was a desk at the back center of the room with a monitor on it.

And a woman standing behind it staring at him.

"Who are you?" she asked, a slight tremble in her voice. As she turned away slightly and backed up, Roman noticed two things.

One, this woman looked like the Schnee brat. Probably her mom if he had to guess.

The other thing was not one he was proud for noticing but noticed nonetheless.

The woman was towing a _wagon._

She blushed.

Oh shit, he'd said that out loud, hadn't he?

"W-why are you here!? Are you part of the White Fang!?" she asked.

"Do I look like a faunus to you?" he questioned. She looked him up and down.

Then she did it again.

And a third time.

"Fuck..." she whispered.

"What?" he uttered incredulously. She quickly cleared her throat and stood up straighter, placing a large bottle down and relaxing a lot.

Was it just him or did she just puff her chest out? It had to be his imagination.

"Well, welcome to... my office," she said after a moment of hesitation.

Her office? That meant this was the wrong one!

"Ah, my apologies, I'm looking for a different study," he apologized, turning and reaching for the door handle.

"Ah! I mean, this is my husb— Jacques Schnee's office," she reiterated.

So he was in the right place! But who was this then? He had thought it was the Schnee matriarch but she didn't call Jacques her husband.

"Oh. Well then I'm in the right place," he said. Now he just had to knock this woman out cold and leave her in a closet or something.

"What is it you need? I'd be happy to help," she said with a soft smile. It certainly _looked _like a motherly smile. She leaned forward a bit and continued staring at him.

"Uh, look as nice as that is, you realize that I'm most definitely not supposed to be in here, right?" he clarified.

"Whatever is the issue? Nobody is here to stop you," she stated. That wasn't exactly wrong, but she was standing there and he was pretty sure that she wouldn't appreciate him going through someone else's personal computer.

Also was it just him or was she _not _looking at his eyes?

She seemed to be looking a lot... lower.

"Riiiiiiight, anyways lady, I don't normally do this but just because this is such a special situation, I guess I have to explain it," he started.

She seemed almost eager to hear him explain.

"I'm a criminal," he said, "not just any criminal, but the most well known criminal in the whole world," he bragged.

She hummed and smiled widely at him.

"And I'm here to snoop around Jacques Schnee's personal computer, and maybe steal something while I'm here," he continued.

"He keeps a personal safe with a small fortune behind the portrait," she told him, gesturing to the painting of Jacques behind her.

"Duly noted. And I need to make sure that—"

Wait a minute.

Why'd she tell him that?

"Why'd you tell me that?" he asked without a moment of thinking.

"Well you just seem like such a _nice _and _charming _man. I'm sure you're doing this for the... _greater good,_" she said soothingly.

Well, technically he _was _doing all of this for the greater good. It was just incredibly illegal and he'd definitely rot in prison or be shot dead if anyone found out why.

Not to mention that everyone who was involved would also be taken in. He wasn't selfish enough to get Glynda sent to jail.

Plus that woman in jail was a bad mix. She'd have an army amassed in a day's time. And she was a combat instructor! She'd mobilize the prison faster than Atlas mobilized its army!

"Alright look here lady, I know when someone is trying to get something out of me! What do you want? Someone dead? I can have that arranged," he offered.

She laughed softly. And strode forward.

"Well if you're offering a favor," she said as she stopped in front of him, "I think I know what you can do."

This was it. She was definitely going to ask him to blow the mansion sky high right here and now. Could he do that? Of course he coul, but did he want to? A little bit.

He didn't even notice she was shirtless now.

"Wait what?"

She trailed a finger up his chest. He stopped it before it reached his chin.

"Listen..." he waved a hand.

"Willow Schnee."

_Of course you are._

"...Willow. I already have a very complicated love life right now and I don't think this is something I can just do without permission from some other people," he said, slowly stepping past her and towards the computer.

"They can join! I'm not picky!" she said.

He had to tell the brain in his pants to think rationally. There were two much scarier and much stronger women who would murder him.

"Yes well, the last time that kind of thing happened it landed me right here doing what I'm doing," he said as quickly and expertly uploaded the virus into the computer.

The woman didn't even bat an eye. When his scroll rang. He picked up.

"Watts?" he asked. The man grunted his affirmative.

"The virus was uploaded successfully. I am ready to hack at your word. Salem sends her well wishes," he stated. Roman nodded and hung up. Willow was still watching him, as if she didn't even care about the obviously nefarious things taking place in front of her.

"Sir, you must understand," she practically begged as she rushed forward and stood before him, still shirtless, "I can't stand this life here anymore! Take me away from it! I want to live _your _life!"

Okay so she clearly needed a hobby. Of course the wife of Jacques Schnee wouldn't be satisfied in bed or in life. He couldn't think of anyone who _would _enjoy family life with the man!

"I don't know Willow, I can't just—"

"Steal me and my son away from this place and not only will you feel the warmth of a _real _woman, but you'll have access to all my company assets."

Well that was a no-brainer.

* * *

"What's wrong with Penny?" Marrow asked as the ace-ops and the general left their meeting with Jacques.

The man had, predictably, tried getting Ironwood to put in a good word for him with the council, with the promise of dust being sent _directly _to the Atlas military.

There had been much debate. Mostly that while James didn't know _where _the tax reforms came from, he looked into it and found that the man had definitely done his fair share of tax evasion.

That had been a long and heated discussion in and of itself.

To think that an election in his own homeland would be this corrupted. When he looked over some of the forms that had been brought to him, he had thought they were fake.

But after digging around in Atlas files, he found they were in fact very real.

Who was the vigilante that had done this? They'd have to have access to Atlas files and software, alongside the time and ability to spread the information as quickly as it had been spread.

Needless to say, Jacques would not be winning any election. That had been the end of the meeting and James had sworn he'd be back to discuss _more _about what the rich man had been hiding.

Which brought them to now.

"Penny?" he asked. The girl was balled up in the fetal position in a corner, eyes blank and mumbling rapidly to herself.

"... But the statement can't be false because then it's true and if it's true then it's false but _that _means that it isn't false at all—"

"What the hell happened here?" Ironwood asked Winter, who was standing over the girl. She and team RWBY had relocated her to this corner to keep the attention off of her.

The rest of them had gathered as well, confused how the girl had gotten this way. Mercury made a claim about downloading porn from a sketchy website, which earned him a smack from Yang.

"We... have no idea sir. She suddenly just... broke down," Winter stated, slowly rubbing a circle on the girls back. James stepped forward and snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Penny? Penny!" he tried. She looked up at him despondently.

"General Ironwood?" she asked.

"What's wrong Penny?" he said as softly as he could. As it was general Ironwood, nobody thought it was soft at all, but the robot didn't seem to notice.

"I-is this statement false?" she asked, broken and confused.

"What?" did she just ask him a liars paradox?

"Penny, there is no answer to that statement," he told her.

She froze. Perhaps that was the wrong thing to say.

"So the statement cannot be false or true?" she asked. He opened his mouth to answer.

Then closed it when he thought about it.

If it were false, then wouldn't it be true? But that would mean...

He snapped out of it when Winter, in what would normally be incredibly out of line, slapped him square across the face.

"General, please do not make this situation worse," she begged. He nodded.

"Penny, don't worry about it," he said instead. The girl blinked but nodded and slowly reverted back into her normal self.

"How'd this happen?" he asked. She blinked before gasping. She rocketed to her feet and spotted a man in a black bowler hat and white coat.

"I... do not remember," she said. As she did, Roman finally rejoined with the group, with a new plus one.

"What happened to the toaster?" he asked. Ironwood glared at him but looked back at the girl.

"She can't remember. It's very strange. We've never seen this happen to her before," the general stated, "everyone, we're done here. Let's regroup back at HQ."

It was at that moment that Ironwood realized who Roman's new friend was.

"Willow?" Ironwood asked, having not seen the woman in years.

"Mom?" Weiss asked, surprised she had a chance to see her mother.

"Mother?" Winter and Whitley asked, both in the same state as Weiss. For Whitley it was more of the fact that he didn't think his mom would talk to any of the people attending seeing as she hated this life.

"Hello children. Hello General," Willow greeted.

"What... what are you doing with Roman?" Weiss asked, surprised her mother was not only sober, but interacting with people.

"Ah, of course, how could I be so callous," she berated herself, "Whitley, pack your bags. We're leaving."

"What?" the boy asked, not at all expecting the command.

"Leaving where?" Weiss asked, the sudden exclamation catching everyone off guard.

"My new... friend, Mr. Torchwick here has opened my eyes to the reality of the world. I'll be joining him and, by extension, all of you," she stated.

The ground beneath them cracked and spread from one point of overwhelming hatred.

"Now Glynda I can explain this one—" Roman was cut off as she dragged him out the front door by the skin on his neck.

"Ah! Ow shit! Oh fuck okay!" he whined as they left. The other starred and Willow cleared her throat.

"Well, I look forward to getting to know you all," she said simply.

Weiss nearly fainted. Whitley would've reached to catch her, but he had actually fainted.

* * *

Roman sat in his and Glynda's room, the woman stood in front of him as he was held against the chair.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" she shouted. It was the fourth time.

"Well—"

"SHE HAS THREE KIDS AND A HUSBAND!" Glynda hissed as she leaned into him.

"Salem had four kids and a husband and we still fucked her!" he argued. Her glare nearly sent him to the afterlife.

"Roman. I don't know what kind of empire you're trying to build, but it is a terrible idea," she seethed.

"Well I don't know who this Salem person is, but if you shared a bed with her then I'm sure there's room for me," Willow said from the bed, a novel in hand as she casually read while Glynda interrogated Roman.

Dante stood off to the side, terrified.

"That's not what matters! Roman, we have a mission here, remember?" she asked, teeth grit the whole time.

"And I accomplished it! No need to get your panties in a bunch!" he said. She was already red, so he didn't know if the new red coming in was anger or embarrassment. It was likely anger, as he was sure she was far too gone to be embarrassed right now.

"We can't discuss the plan with _her _in the room," she growled. Willow, for all her ease in the situation, stood calmly and walked to the door.

"I'll be back in an hour. I'll take the time to wander around the academy and take in the sights," she said as she opened the door.

"Look at that! She's great!" Roman tried. They earned him a loud and fast slap.

"What's the next part of this plan you stupid bastard?" she barked. He rubbed his face and hissed when he felt the sting.

"Well now we just—" there was a knock at their door.

"Who is it?" Roman asked.

"General Ironwood," came the strict voice of Winter Schnee.

"I dunno, that doesn't _sound _like General Ironwood," he said.

He expected more back and forth. Some amount of humor or annoyed reaction from the soldier.

Instead the door exploded and the ace-ops rolled in with their weapons trained on him. Winter followed suit, and Penny stood at the ready next to her.

James walked in after them, the others all gathered outside, running over when they heard the noise, and we're looking in, shock evident on their faces.

"James what is the meaning of this—" Glynda was cut off when he walked past her and stared down Roman.

Without a word he pulled up a scroll. And opened it, looking through a few files.

"We looked for cameras to see if we could find what had happened to Penny. It turns out there's a whole network of hidden cameras in the Schnee Manor," the general said calmly, "we were shocked at first when we saw that it was in fact _you _who left Penny in such a state. Imagine our surprise when we saw this."

The video being played was of the study. It was somewhat awkward watching Willow come on to him again, and everyone else looked a little embarrassed by it as well.

It passed quickly when they watched Roman take a call from a so-called 'Watts'.

"Ah," Roman said. That's all he could really manage.

Hidden cameras. Of course there were.

"Arthur Watts was confirmed dead years ago. But it appears he found a new boss," James said, still eerily calm.

"Well, I don't know any _Arthur _Watts, that was an old friend, uh— David Watts," he tried.

James glared down at him.

"I found it suspicious when you managed to return from the Grimmlands alive and relatively unharmed. In my relief that you were all okay I failed to see what must have truly happened," he stated as he came forward.

Roman really would've liked to blot right now but he was stuck where he was, Atlas specialists trained on him and the general right between him and the door.

"You said you came into contact with Salem but that you lost the relic. You said that you 'escaped'. Somehow, a Grimm is in our presence and is non hostile to you. I see now what really happened," he said. Glynda finally had enough. She had to try and help the crook, even if he was a sleazeball.

"James! This is ridiculous, we—" she halted when he held one of his pistols right in her face.

"Roman Torchwick, Glynda Goodwitch, Ruby Rose, and Neo Politan are hereby placed under arrest for conspiring with the forces of Salem against Atlas and Remnant," Ironwood spat.

Roman knew this song and dance though. And he knew where his best bets lay.

So he whistled as loudly and sharply as he could.

Dante bolted from the corner of the room and out the door, catching Ruby and fleeing down the hall. Chew did the same with Neo. The two girls disappeared around the corner.

"Glynda," Roman said. Ironwood's other gun was now trained on him.

"Roman, I'm sure if we just explain—" she was cut off by the sound of a jar breaking.

It was a jar of fire dust Roman kept in his pocket.

The room exploded and everyone in and around it went flying.

"ROMAN!" James screamed as the thief pulled himself up. He grabbed Glynda and pulled her to her feet.

"BOOK IT!" he yelled. The two sprinted down the hall in the opposite direction Dante and Chew had run with Neo and Ruby.

"Ace-ops, Penny, you follow the girls. Winter, Qrow, with me. We follow them," James growled as he leered down the hall after Roman and Glynda.

"James wait, there's gotta be a reason—" Qrow didn't get a chance to finish as the man ran down the hall. Winter flew after him.

That just left him and all the kids.

"Ruby..." Yang asked in shock. Working with Salem? That had to be a joke. This couldn't be real!

"Well," Mercury tapped his feet against the ground a few times, "it's been good y'all!" he said before dashing after the ace-ops. The twins dashed past them and followed the assassin.

"Wait! Are we serious!? Are they all working with Salem!?" Jaune shouted at the three criminals.

They slowed and turned back.

The look in their eyes said it all.

"It's a lot to explain and we've got a friend... heh, well fuck it, by this point _sister _to save. Family is rare in this business," Mercury said. They didn't wait for them to get before the three rounded the corner and chased the ace-ops.

"What do we do? Can we really fight them? Our friends? Our... our family?" Weiss asked.

Qrow growled. What the hell did they do? Obviously it looked like Ruby was in a bad spot, but there had to be a reason! There had to be something!

"I don't know about you all," Yang said as she cocked her gauntlets, "but that's my sister."

With that she flew after team MMMN.

There wasn't even a pause as Weiss and Blake chased after the blonde brawler.

JNPR, Qrow, and Oscar all stood in silence.

"Ruby's never gonna let me live this down," Qrow grumbled as he chased after Winter and Ironwood.

Oscar took that moment to look towards the remaining team.

"So who do we follow?" he asked.

"Well knowing Torchwick, he's probably going to get someone killed or make things explode soooo..." Nora trailed off. Ren sighed. Always the explodey path.

"No. Those three can handle themselves. We need to get everyone a way out of here. Let's move guys! We need to grab a bullhead!" Jaune ordered. They all nodded and dashed away, throwing any soldiers that tried stopping them aside.

It was easy with Nora and Pyrrha. Almost felt bad for the guys.

* * *

Ruby hopped off of Dante as the Sabyr proweld and sniffed around. Chew did the same, the dog was armored from before this happened as Ruby and Neo had been cleaning it.

"We... we're gonna get arrested," Ruby mumbled. Neo put a hand on her shoulder and sent her a determined look.

_We'll pull through._

Ruby nodded. She was right. They just had to meet up with Roman and Glynda and hightail it out of Atlas before—

A hook nicked Ruby's good and she yelped as she was pulled off her feet and sent flying backwards towards...

Neo hissed.

The ace-ops stood ready and armed. She deployed Hush and a ticated her semblance, rushing in to sever the hook and get Ruby out of there.

She stopped when a long, glowing arm swung and connected with her side, sending her into the wall of the hallway.

"We have data on your semblances and fighting styles. Come quietly or we'll have to take you in by force," Harriet said. Ruby reached back to try and unhook herself but she didn't need to try.

A bright flash went off and blinded everyone in the room.

"Now sis!"

Something grabbed Ruby and wrenched her off the hook. She briefly felt weightless before she realized she'd been thrown. Someone caught her.

"This is probably gonna suck," Mercury said. Her eyes cleared and he put her down. The twins landed next to them and Neo stood from her position. Chew and Dante were posed and ready to fight as well.

"Should've known the team of ex criminals wouldn't be on our side," Elm muttered as all the ace-ops prepared to launch into battle.

Ruby was about to give out commands when a giant sword found its way between the two groups.

They all looked behind the ace-ops and saw Yang, Weiss, and Blake at the ready, Weiss's sword in the floor as the Arma Gigas stood posed for battle as well.

"Yang!" Ruby called. Yang sent her a look that was a mix of hurt and comforting.

"We _are totally _talking about this... after we kick these guys asses," the brawler claimed.

This hallway was unsuitable for battle and they all knew it. They were tense, nobody moving. They were all waiting for somebody to make the wrong move.

The first shot fired was from Crescent Rose. It struck Elm in the shoulder.

The hallway exploded into battle.

Harriet dashed forward and met the twins in a furious exchange of kicks and jabs. Miltia swung high while Melanie kicked low, the two trying to trip the speedster up.

She was fast which made her annoying, but the twins were clever. They'd been put against faster and stronger people before. Harriet kicked Miltia in the chest and the girl fell with her. On the ground the girl lashed out and took a chunk of plaster off the wall. She grabbed a handful of the debris in her hand.

When the woman came over to cuff her she spun around and whipped the plaster dust into her eyes. She screamed as it connected and tripped when Melanie swept low and cut at her heel.

Meanwhile Yang and Mercury met Elm in the center of the hallway. The woman saw both and rooted herself in place, swinging for Mercury who sprung forward, leg stretched out to wind her. Yang shot forward from behind, aiming for the woman's lower back.

Elm let out a battle cry as she swung. Seeing the strength behind the swing, Mercury lowered his legs and shit them down, sailing over her head instead. Having committed to the swing, her hammer went sailing through nothing and Mercury lashed out and struck her in the jaw, sending her head back.

Yang finally connected and landed a solid, rocket propelled haymaker to her back, the force strong enough to take the floor she had rooted herself to with her as she toppled over.

The two now stood side by side as she jumped back to her feet and turned, and swung, taking out a large amount of the wall next to them.

Weiss was keeping Vine on his toes, sending wave after wave of fire and ice his way. He dodged, but due to the limited space of the hallway he had very little room to move as a glyph caught one of his arms. He looked towards Weiss and saw the giant armored figure charge in.

Using his other arm he wrapped the construct's arms to its sides, halting its ability to use it's sword.

Unfortunately that's what Weiss wanted as she sped past the immobilized Arma Gigas and stabbed Vine in the midsection. The blow barely bruised and he was confused for all but a moment before the dust chambers in her sword rotated to yellow.

He screamed as he was electrocuted, and didn't notice Blake leaping over Weiss to land an unguarded and hefty blow to the side of his head with a heavy swing of the flat end of Gambol Shroud.

Clover was eying Neo. The girl stood, smirking and waiting. He knew her type. Bait and punish.

He narrowed his eyes. She hadn't moved at all in the last minute.

He swung his hook out and to his left, the girl parrying the strike before it hit. Lucky that he managed to find her before she snuck up on him.

The two entered a fencing match, occasionally throwing fists or kicks into the other. The girl was fast and nimble, never staying in place and using her semblance to move only a foot or two away at a time. It threw him for a loop, and every time he thought he had a pattern down for her, she'd change it up and do something different.

Of course she was the daughter of a famous criminal. She had the adaptability of one for sure.

Ruby was in an intense confrontation right now.

"Penny! We don't have to do this!" she claimed. Penny, for her part, looked apprehensive. This was her first friend. Her best friend even! To learn that she may be a threat to the entire world? It seemed unbelievable.

"I— I don't—" she sighed. This wasn't part of her databanks! She didn't know what the procedure was for 'best friend possibly being evil and trying to kill everyone' was! Marrow stepped up next to her, slowly and at ease.

"Please, if you just come with us we don't have to fight. Nobody has to get hurt here," he tried placating the reaper.

Unfortunately, Ruby knew what would happen if they couldn't get the relics. Salem wasn't doing things the best way, but she at least didn't want to doom the whole planet on a chance!

"I can't do that," Ruby said, lowering slightly. Marrow sighed as he pulled out his rifle-boomerang.

"I was afraid you'd say that," he mumbled. Penny tried to intervene.

"Wait—" but it was too late. The two had met in a blinding flash of steel on steel, Sparks flying every which way as they danced down the hall.

It all came to a head when Neo and Clover's fight neared the same area as Mercury, Yang, and Elm.

Clover stabbed forward, Neo flipping back as he did to avoid the hit. But that was part of his plan as Elm spun around, hammer spinning with her full weight as she slammed the head into Neo's unguarded side.

Her aura shattered and she gasped as she flew into the wall, cracking it and falling to the floor. She was unable to stand, straining to even push herself up.

They all froze as a low, guttural growl filled the hallway.

Chew stood at the end of the hallway, teeth barred fully and body low. The aura radiating off of him was cold and murderous. Ruby flinched. She'd never seen him this hostile before. And was it just her or was he... glowing a little bit?

Nope. He definitely was glowing. And whatever he was doing must've been _big _if Dante slowly backing up and shrinking in on himself was any indication.

Then there was a loud, metallic noise, like a pipe exploding. The sound of metal tearing could be heard.

They watched the dog's armor split, creaking as it fell off his body. Before their very eyes, the armor on the dog was destroyed. Why, one may ask?

Because the dog grew to the size of an adult Goliath in about twenty seconds.

The ceiling came down and the hallway walls broke as the dog stood in the wreckage of the building. He took a slow, heavy step forward that shook the ground.

"D-does that dog have a semblance!?" Harriet shouted in shock. Neo looked surprised herself. They did say that some semblances unlocked in times of great stress.

Guess her getting demolished by a giant hammer did the trick for Chew.

"Marrow! Stop that thing!" Clover ordered. The faunus nodded and ignored Ruby as he stepped forward, eyes narrowed.

"Stay!" he commanded, pointing at the dog.

Chew looked down at him.

He took another step forward before sucking in a deep breath.

The bark he let out could've shattered the moon again.

As he barked, he _slammed _his paw down, glaring right at Marrow who was still pointing. The gesture seemed obvious.

_**You **_**stay**_**.**_

Marrow promptly sheathed his weapon and stepped to the side.

"Welp, I tried!" he told the other operatives as the dog walked past him.

He stopped in front of Elm and growled. She raised her hammer to defend herself but the dog simply bent down and ripped it from her hands with his mouth, turning his neck before whipping the hammer far away, surely off of Atlas itself.

Everyone had ceased fighting. It was obvious that this animal would be the victor, whether you were on its side or not.

"Everyone on the dog!" Mercury yelled. The two teams ran to the giant dog, Yang bending down on the way to haul Neo up with them. Dante ran and leapt, landing on the dogs back as they climbed up.

"Well it has been fun!" the assassin called as Chew turned and walked away, the ace-ops watching the giant dog walk through the fortified and armored walls of the academy with ease. It was like watching a toddler walk through a beautiful sandcastle, with just as much disappointment when one realised how impossible it'd be to fix everything in a timely manner.

"I can't believe we just lost the world's only military academy to a dog," Harriet mumbled. The others voiced their agreement as Chew searched for Roman and Glynda.

"Can we find my brother and mom!? They're still here somewhere!" Weiss asked. Neo rubbed Chew's ears and the dog barked, the noise echoing throughout Atlas as he sniffed around for the two white haired family members.

On Chew's back, Yang fixed Ruby with a harsh glare.

"Why the hell are you guys working with Salem!? The very thing we, as hunters, _swore _to destroy!?" Yang asked, grabbing her sister, her only sister, her _family, _by the shoulders.

"Do you want the short version or the long version?" Ruby asked, completely sincere.

"I think I see your mom and brother!" Blake said from Chew's head, yelling back to Weiss who was towards the middle of his back.

Yang growled as she dragged her hands through her hair.

"Gimme the long version. Leave nothing out," she demanded.

And so Ruby told her team about Salem. About Ozpin and the relics, and what would happen if the brother gods came back to Remnant and Salem was still there.

Their reactions were about as expected.

"I'm gonna kill that old wizard ass bastard when we find him," Yang swore, eyes red as she pet Chew's giant back to try and relieve her anger.

"So Salem is immortal, Ozpin's ex wife, and in love with your dad?" Weiss asked Neo. The short girl sighed and nodded.

"And he's trying to bring my mom into that!?" she shrieked. Of course that's what Weiss would pick out of all of that.

Speaking of which.

"Weiss, sweetheart, when did this dog get so big?" Willow asked as the twins helped her and Whitley up.

They had to find Roman fast.

* * *

Roman ducked as a heavy bullet whizzed past his head. Glynda threw her arm back, catching several small white nevermore out of the air and crushing them with her semblance.

"We need to grab the staff and go!" Roman claimed. Glynda nodded as they ran through the halls. Roman had the layout memorized after going over the blueprints so many times.

As they ducked and dodged bullets and glyphs, they turned and saw a crow flying beside them. After keeping up with them for a moment, the bird transformed into Qrow, who continued running beside them.

"Qrow, we can explain!" Glynda shouted as they rounded the corner, one of Ironwood's shots flying into the wall and setting it ablaze. It was put out by another shot that froze it. Seemed the general was trying to minimize damage.

"Can it for now! You two have a lot to explain but it ain't gonna happen if Jimmy blows your brains out!" he yelled back. With that stated, they turned another hall and ran straight again. The bounding of several beowolves could be heard, so Qrow turned and shot three down, the construct's fading away as he did.

"Why do we need the staff!?" the drunkard asked as Roman aimed forward and shot the heavy metal door ahead of them. It was scorched, but it held.

"Ozpin ever tell you what happens when we get all these relics together?" Roman asked. The man shook his head.

"D-Day."

"You're lying!"

"Straight from Salem's mouth!"

"And you believed her!?"

"Well we had a pretty epic threesome, so yeah, I'm inclined to believe her."

Qrow gave him a look of shock, possibly envy, and disgust. The door before them still wouldn't move after he shot it again.

Glynda took aim instead and the door melted as she shot a concentrated stream of fire at it. Roman kissed her on the cheek in thanks as they jumped down the elevator and landed in a large, open chamber.

Sitting in a device of some kind was the staff of creation. Roman used the hook on his cane to drag himself to it and got ready to swap the staff for the stone in his hat.

He didn't get a chance as a bullet impacted his back and sent him careening back down to the ground.

He landed with a thud and groaned as he stood back up. Ironwood and winter glared their way, weapons at the ready and dispositions practically screaming 'shoot to kill'.

"Well, James, this has not been the friendly stay in Atlas I was expecting at all!" Roman said out loud. Glynda and Qrow looked at him in shock.

He was really trying to bullshit all of this now!?

"Silence!" James shouted, "I was skeptical when we received word that Leonardo had turned traitor. Salem must have something that can sway people to her side if she was able to get you to join her ranks, Glynda!"

Glynda said nothing. She knew the truth and she was never one to doubt her resolve. She had heard Salem's story and she knew lies when she heard them. She slept with Roman for God's sake, if any one knew lies it was her!

"Enough. Qrow, if you join them now you'll die with them," the general claimed as he readied both his guns. Winter herself kept her sabre trained their direction the whole time.

"Jimmy, if we just hear them out maybe we can figure all this out without any more blood—" he ducked as a bullet sailed over his head.

"Right then," the grizzled man sighed as he whipped Harbinger in front of him.

Roman and Glynda stood ready to fight as well.

Then the entire cavern they stood in shook. James held a finger up to his ear to activate his earpiece.

"Special operative Ebi, what was that tremor?"

_"It was a dog_."

"It was a _what?"_

Roman laughed. Out loud. Of _course _it was the dog. He hoped Neo wasn't in any trouble.

It seems his casual attitude was the final straw as Winter and James dashed forth.

This was a battle between real hunters.

As such, the room was alright with activity.

Glynda was hurling shot after shot towards Winter, the woman meeting each one with a glyph. As they squared off in a duel of dust and technical skills, the men all met in what could be equated to an incredibly beautiful brawl.

Qrow and Roman would throw any blow they could. A fist here, a kick there, knees and elbows, headbutts and cheap shots.

James would attack them through it all, grabbing them with his cybernetic arm and tossing them around, bending and rolling as he shot at them from point blank range.

Eventually Roman shoulder checked the man back as Qrow rolled over his back and kicked the general in the face. As the man staggered, only slightly, Roman took the chance and crammed Melodic Cudgel into the elbow joint of his robotic arm.

He didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, sparks and fluid flying as the inner mechanisms of the arm exploded. It stayed connected however, barely functional.

If he felt pain, he didn't show it as James threw his other arm around and slammed the hand guard of his gun into Roman's temple.

The thief flew to the side and his vision swam. Qrow sent a shotgun blast into the man's eyes and the half man responded by gritting his teeth and running _through _the shot, spear tackling the drunkard.

Say what you would about James Ironwood, the man was a beast.

He held Qrow against the floor with his forearm crushing his windpipe. The two glared at each other as they struggled in the position.

Roman ran from behind the man and attempted to club him over the head with his cane. Hearing his footsteps, the general slammed his arms into Qrow's abdomen before lifting his body. Both legs curled in before springing them out in a vicious donkey kick to Roman's solar plexus.

Both men wheezed and Roman flew back, not before firing another shot into the man's back. It exploded and sent him and Qrow flying in opposite directions.

All three men groaned. Roman made sure his hat and the stone were still in place. They were, and he sighed in relief.

He looked over and watched Glynda finally get tired of trading shots with the specialist. With a shout she pointed her crop at the woman before lifting her up. Winter struggled in the invisible grasp.

With a huff and unrestrained rage, Glynda slammed the woman into the ground.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

On the fourth heavy slam, the woman's aura shattered and she cried out in pain. Glynda released her and she clutched her arm. The witch had broken it in her final slam.

She turned and grabbed Ironwood's arm, tearing the entire thing from his body from the shoulder. He grunted but stayed standing, one arm down but aura still up.

"Roman!" she shouted as she used her semblance on the thief, hurling him at the relic. He shifted and landed, taking the stone out and swapping it with the staff.

"I got it!" he called, the staff of creation in his right hand and Melodic Cudgel in the other. The stone in place of the staff glowed and thrummed before stabilizing and floating in the staff's place.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" James screamed.

Before he could answer the ceiling caves in and an absolutely _massive _Chew fell through, teams RWBY and MMMN, along with Willow and Whitley on his back. Above them and through the new hole in the ceiling, Roman made out a bullhead, swaying to and fro as if piloted by someone who'd never flown before.

"James when this is all over, I'll buy you a drink, a new arm, and help you find a woman!" Roman said as he jumped and grabbed Mercury's hand, the boy hoisting him up.

"Winter! What happened!?" Weiss asked, the sight of her sister sitting in a crater worrying the girl.

"She's fine! Probably," Roman claimed. Willow sent him a look and he had to remind himself about _that _particular choice. Why had he essentially stolen this woman and her son again?

A quick look down made him remember. He was a horndog or anything, but that ass was a national treasure. There was no way he was leaving that in the hands of someone like Jacques Schnee. He didn't deserve it!

Qrow and Glynda leapt up and landed on the dog. They looked confused but Ruby said she'd explain how it happened later.

"WHEN I FIND YOU, YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES! ALL OF YOU!" Ironwood shouted. Roman shook his head. One day he'd come back and explain all this. James was a good man with a lot on his mind.

"So long general! I'll make sure the Grimm don't come by while the academy burns down!" the crook called.

With that Chew jumped and crawled his way back up to the surface of Atlas. The bullhead flew next to his head and Roman finally saw who was driving it.

"Do you know what you're doing farm boy?" Roman asked.

"NO! PLEASE HELP ME!" Oscar cried as he struggled to keep the ship in the air.

They all climbed off of Chew and into the ship, Roman taking the controls. Dante leapt in last, leaving Chew the only one not in the bullhead.

"How do we shrink him!?" Ruby yelled over the engine.

As if hearing her, chew jumped far above the bullhead. They watched him soar into the air before he started descending. When he landed on top of the ship, he was normal sized again.

"Works for me! Get him in the damn ship so we can leave!" Roman shouted. Glynda levitated the dog into the ship and slammed the doors shut.

Below them, James watched with unconcealed rage on his face. The ace-ops arrived, along with a medical team for Winter.

"Sir, we have confirmed that the winter maiden is still alive and fine," Clover said.

Ironwood glared at the retreating airship. That he'd been completely played, defeated, and now lost the relic, he was beyond the ability to feel relieved by the news.

They still had the maiden, and they still had the plan for Amity. Was that enough?

His comms sprang to life.

"_General Ironwood!"_

"Good news. _Please _soldier, good news," he begged, _begged, _into the earpiece.

The silence was not reassuring.

"_The Amity project has... Well, it's uh—"_

"Soldier, we are in a volatile situation right now. Speak. _Now," _he growled. The ace-ops all took an intelligent step backwards.

"_It's run away."_

It what.

* * *

Below the bullhead, they all watched in awe at what they were seeing.

"You can't be serious Roman," Glynda muttered, shocked at the scene.

"I said I had a plan. Honestly didn't think it'd work that well," he said.

"When did you even have time for this!?" Yang shouted in frustration, bewilderment, and just in general disbelief.

"We had those three days between the gathering at the mansion and the burning of Mantle. I went out and did it then," he said easily.

"You said you were going on a smoke break!" Ruby cried.

"I don't see what the big deal is! I solved our problem!" he argued.

And what a way to solve it.

Below them, nearly a thousand geists, no, _easily _a thousand geists had possessed every possible part of the remains of Amity Arena. The entire structure was floating its way across the ocean, likely towards the Grimmlands or some other remote area.

That's what he'd asked them to do at any rate.

"How!?" Pyrrha pointed at the entire scene. The poor champion was truly lost. Jaune rubbed her shoulders and tried to sooth her as best he could. Unfortunately he was also freaking out.

"I asked Salem to send a handful of Grimm my way so I could get rid of our problem and she did. Those things aren't too bad when you get to know em," he said.

The ease at which he had said that was more disturbing than the actual statement itself.

"You're actually fucking the queen of Grimm," Blake said, all pretense of formality gone.

"Yeeeeeeep," he said, "Glynda gets it."

The woman went red in an instant for being outed in front of her former students.

Oscar winced and grabbed his head.

"Guys! I think Ozpin's coming back!" he groaned as he held his temple. They tried to sooth the boy but it didn't do much.

Finally his eyes glowed and he collapsed to the floor. They all looked at him and reached to help him to his feet.

He held up a hand to stop them.

He stood slowly. He glared at Glynda, who at least looked sheepish at the connotation that the wizard's look held.

Roman just laughed.

"You should've said something before Oz," he claimed, "she's pretty reasonable once the post nut clarity kicks in."

Ozpin, not Oscar, _Ozpin, _screamed.

Roman laughed the whole way back to the Grimmlands.

* * *

**What a way to end this chapter.**

**I know a lot of you are probably wondering why this feels as fast as it does and for that I have a good explanation.**

**In the actual events of season 7, the main cast pretty claims they're okay being criminals if it means doing what's best and supporting each other.**

**So I just took it to a ridiculous extreme in this story.**

**Adding Willow to the roster of 'women who want that Torchdick' was actually a suggestion from a reader that I loved. I never intended on putting her in the story but the idea of Roman attracting MILFs is too funny **_**not **_**to put in this story.**

**Whitley sees his happy return with Weiss seeing him again as promised, Chew gains a semblance that lets me get characters around faster than 'they ran really fast and knew exactly where to go', and nobody dies.**

**Why didn't I include the winter maiden as more important?**

**Well if the staff of creation is already out of its vault and being used, then why do they need the maiden at all?**

**Just a thought.**

**At any rate I saved the authors note until the end this time, not a lot to talk about before.**

**I am officially done with finals and this story is set to be finished soon! Sad to see it go, but oh so proud that I can finish my very first story on this site.**

**Thank you all for your support, love, and kindness! It's made writing this story an absolute blast. Favorite, follow, review. It means a lot to this writer's heart.**

**Please stay healthy and have a wonderful time.**

**And don't bite off more than you can chew!**

* * *

**Omake: Amity, AWAY!**

Roman stood before the wreckage of Amity Arena. He pulled out his scroll and called Watts.

"_Hello Roman. How may I be of assistance?"_

"I gotta ask Sally for a favor. You mind putting her on?" he asked. Watts nodded and there was a moment of shuffling.

"_Hello my lovely hunk of ginger," _Salem greeted.

"Hello yourself you fine piece of ass," he replied. She laughed and stared at him through the device.

"_Watts tells me you need something done? What is it?" _she asked.

"Send me as many ghosty guys as you can. I'm trying to steal Ironwood's project from under his nose.

_"Oh Roman that's _so _devious! God I love it. They'll be there in no time. Is there anything else?" _she asked.

"That's all Sally. We'll be back before you know it," he claimed. She hummed.

"_Make it so," _and with that, she hung up.

He waited, smoked a cigar, and waited a little more before the sky darkened a little and a cloud of geist hovered before him.

"Okay you all! Wanna make mommy happy?" he asked. They all threw their hands in the air and floated up and down rapidly.

"Great! Go haunt that giant hunk of junk and drag it home! Drag it to the bottom of the ocean, the sandiest vagina in Vacuo, I don't care! Just get ready for my word to get it out of here and somewhere nobody will go!" he told them.

They dispersed and flew towards the construction site for the arena.

That oughta do it. He brushed his hands together and sighed in relief.

A hard day's work for Roman Torchwick.

* * *

**This part takes place right before the soldier calls Ironwood.**

Roman watched as a small nevermore flew next to the window of the bullhead. He looked over at it as it looked at him.

He nodded. The nevermore nodded back before banking off and flying towards the Amity construction site.

* * *

Dave was a normal guy. Had a wife. One kid on the way. They had a house, and he just had received a bonus for his time served in the army.

Imagine his surprise when the entire construction site he'd been assigned to stand guard at just kinda... walked away. Nobody got hurt, the thing didn't even turn around when they shot at it. Just up and left.

"Well I just got a raise so who's gonna call the general and tell him about that?" Dave asked.

"I think Christine should do it," another man said. That was Frank.

"What!?" a woman yelled, "why me!? Make Jones do it, he never calls the general for this stuff!"

"Christie's right Jones. You never call him," Dave said.

"The general is scary, man! Make Frank do it!" Jones quivered.

"Ugh, you're all a bunch of bitches," Frank said as he brought his hand up to his earpiece. He called into the general.

After a brief conversation in which the general could be heard screaming, he hung up.

"How'd he take it?" Dave asked.

"Dunno. He seemed pissed, but then, he always seems pissed," Frank said.

"I'll drink to that sir," Christine said, handing them all a bottle.

"Here here," Dave said. They clinked glasses and all drank.

What were they supposed to do? Chase the damn thing?

That was way out of their pay grade.


	30. Chapter 30

**Hi.**

**This is awkward.**

**I'm not gonna sugar-coat it people: this is the last official chapter of this story.**

**In my defense, it snuck up on me.**

**I had only planned up to about thirty chapters, ending this story after season seven, and now that we're here... I see no reason to drag this story on if I have nothing planned. If I **_**do **_**keep writing, the quality will be sure to drop and I don't want to do that to you all.**

**I have more to say but it shall be said at the bottom.**

**Once more into the breach!**

* * *

They stared at one another, one in forlorn contempt, the other in bitter amusement. They said no words, they had nothing to say to each other. A form shifted to the right, but neither offered them any attention.

"My queen?"

Salem held a hand up slowly and Cinder went silent, the room going back into the awkward, deafening silence it had been in for the last sixteen consecutive minutes.

"Fitting that you've taken the form of a child," the queen said suddenly.

"Fitting that you've taken the form of a whore. Oh wait, my apologies. Nothing's changed," the wizard returned.

Somehow, despite seeming impossible, the room grew even more silent.

Roman slowly turned to Glynda, raising his eyebrows in a 'yeesh' look. She shook her head with a small glare, knowing that meant he was about to do something incredibly stupid.

Her fear was confirmed when the thief stepped forward, too sudden for her to stop him.

"Okay, I think that's enough silent brooding from you two," he said, clapping his hands and striding forward to stand between the two.

Ozpin glared at him. Salem glared at Ozpin. Roman shot both of them a disappointed look.

"Sally, glaring like that is bad for your skin. You'll get wrinkles," he said matter-of-factly. She immediately looked frightened and felt around her face. Ozpin rolled his eyes.

"And Oz, what kind of example are you setting for the kids?" he asked the child-man. Ozpin looked at him as though _he _were the ancient wizard. AKA, shocked and aghast.

"Says the man having sex with the enemy!" Ozpin shouted.

"Hey now, that's unfair. Glynda's having sex with her too," he stated confidently.

Said woman tore a brick out of the wall and beamed him over the head with it. He hissed as he rubbed above his eyebrow and winced. That was gonna bruise.

"Do you even know what you've done!? James has an army! A maiden! All the people you've dragged here will die if they ever go back to the normal world!" Ozpin berated, ignoring his ex wife for now. Roman snorted.

"We have a maiden and an army too. Not to mention that unlike Ironwood's army we don't have to go and tell our soldier's families that they'll never see their loved ones again if they die," the thief shot back. Nobody said anything after that. The statement was not lost on them. Grimm were infinite. Humans were not.

Roman sighed as he regarded the others in the, at the moment, quite cramped throne room. They'd been in for quite the shock when they'd first arrived in the Grimmlands.

Oh what a shock it had been to them. Qrow looked on edge, never keeping his eyes in one place. Neo's team had taken it in relative ease, already knowing no danger awaited them here as long as they kept their hands to themselves. Relatively speaking, of course.

Yang and Blake had a hard stare set upon their faces, not quite a glare but certainly not at ease. Ruby tried to console her team, telling them that it was a lot more homey than it looked and that they just had to give it a chance. Nora, being Nora, was simply excited to be in a new place, while Ren was too stressed trying to contain the girl to really care about his surroundings.

Pyrrha had pretty much been contemplating her life choices and how she managed to stray so far from what she thought her life would be like when she went off to join Beacon. Jaune was in a similar boat, but was also doing his best not to stare at the giant man hunched menacingly over Oscar's shoulders. It was that Hazel guy from Mistral, and he looked ready to tear the boy limb from limb.

Willow seemed interested. Having confined herself to the mansion and it's gardens for so many years now, any new sight was more appealing. Whitley had the credence to freak out twice as much to make up for his mother's casual disposition of the situation at hand. Weiss did her best to console her brother, which would've been sweet if she too weren't panicking.

"Level with me here Oz, what do you think Sally's gonna do with the relics?" the crook asked.

He opened his mouth to reply but stopped. He brought a hand to his chin and squinted at the ground, eyebrows knit close as he thought.

"Really?" Salem asked incredulously from her throne, "You're just _that _petty?"

"It's not pettiness when we've been fighting this war for a millenia," he grumbled, "we need not recall repeat nine."

Salem shivered. No. They never discussed repeat nine.

"All that time and neither of you ever just tried having a conversation?" Roman asked.

They both at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed. It passed quickly however.

"Well, to be fair," Salem began, "the last time I saw him was when he was trying to hustle my children away from me in the night."

"They wouldn't have needed to be hustled away if you hadn't gone off the deep end and proclaimed your want to be the new gods of this world," Ozpin argued. Clearly the man still didn't appreciate the thought of that particular idea. Not that Roman could blame him, the gods sounded like total dicks.

"Oh I'm sorry, I was only _mourning the loss of my husband for two hundred years_! Besides, that didn't mean we had to be the same as those foolish brothers! Who said we couldn't give the people what they desired?" Salem asked.

"If we simply gave everyone the same kind of powers we had the world would never know peace," Ozpin claimed.

The two returned to glaring at each other. Roman just sighed and waved to the other occupants of the room.

"Well, while we all settle this why don't you all go get settled? Neo and Red can show you around. Glynda stick around please?" Roman ordered as he placed his hands on his hips. The faster he got these two to stop bickering, the faster he could take a well deserved break.

He had just pulled off a huge heist and flown a bullhead from Atlas to the Grimmlands by himself! Not to mention he needed to unwind after getting shot at for so long.

As the others filed out he sent a wave to Salem's forces.

"You all should leave too. I don't think you need to worry about your queen dying or anything," he said. Watts nodded and stood, leaving without a word. That's why he was Roman's favorite. Never wanted to get into something he didn't need to be a part of. Man after his own dreams.

Cinder glared but left, which obviously meant that little scamp left with her. He heard Mercury send a jab her way that dissolved into some argument between the two. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

Tyrian and Hazel were not as easily persuaded. Tyrian stood staunchly by Salem's side, not willing to leave his goddess defenceless! Hazel still stood over Ozpin, awaiting the word from Salem to end the man.

Roman sent Salem a look and pouted a little. The woman rolled her eyes but sent a chilly glare at both men. Tyrian wilted visibly and scampered from the room. Hazel grunted and turned his body to leave, but didn't let his eyes stray from the wizard.

When the door finally closed it was just Salem, Ozpin, Glynda and him in the room.

"What is your plan with the relics?" Ozpin asked. Salem raised an eyebrow but shrugged one shoulder. Truthfully, with the staff of creation now retrieved she didn't really see much of a threat anymore.

"You need all the relics to bring those stupid bitch-boy gods back to Remnant right?" she clarified.

"When all four are brought together, yes. The brothers will return. At least, that's what they'll have me believe," he answered. She already knew the information, _he'd _told her after all. There was no point hiding it from her. She had the relic of knowledge and creation at her disposal. He thanked his stars that she didn't have the relic of destruction. That'd be a terrifying thought.

It wasn't like he was anymore interested in the gods return mind you. He just wanted to end this horrible parasitic curse he'd been bestowed. In a way, he understood why Salem had lost a few marbles. He'd taken over all too many lives during his immortal battle with the woman.

"Then I think that will do," she stated, all pretenses of animosity gone in an instant. She casually checked her nails.

"What?" Roman asked, confused at the sudden shift. Ozpin and Glynda looked equally as confused.

"If you need all four to bring _them _back, then you may go live your life as you please. Or I suppose, let the boy live his life as he pleases. I'll keep the relic of knowledge and creation here and away from the other two," she decreed.

The other three just stared at her.

"Allow me to get this straight," Ozpin started, "we've been fighting a silent war for who knows how long any more, sacrificing thousands of lives along the way, and your plan to end all the fighting... is to just ignore it?"

She closed her eyes and hummed in thought, tilting her head one way before tilting it the other. She finally opened her eyes again, a passive look on her face.

"Yes."

Glynda's hand hit her face before she even realized it was moving. It was like Roman's simplistic idiocy when it came to solving problems was rubbing off on everyone around him.

Would that happen to her!? The thought scared her.

"Surely... you cannot be serious?" Ozpin asked slowly, unfathomably even.

"I'm as serious as I can be," she replied, "if all of this fighting is to see who can collect all the relics it will never end. So instead of doing that, I'll simply keep two and you can keep the other two. I have no use for them anyways."

Roman spread his arms wide.

"Sounds good to me!" with that he began a jaunty stroll out the room.

"Wait! No! I didn't agree to any of this!" Ozpin exclaimed. The thief stopped and groaned, continuing to groan as he walked back to the place he once stood. Glynda spoke up this time, understanding the man after working with him for so long.

"Ozpin," Glynda began, getting the man's attention, "surely you can see the merit in this. She's agreeing to end all the cloak and dagger and leave you and the maidens and relics be. What can't you agree with here?"

"The Grimm will still attack the people of Remnant," he said. Salem scoffed.

"The Grimm were around long before you and me both you old fool," she pointed out, "they'd continue attacking regardless."

The man sighed deeply. He knew that. It was more of an argument for argument's sake.

"How can I trust your word?" he asked instead. What, if anything, could the woman offer him that would be incentive enough for him to know she wouldn't stab him in the back as she had so many before?

"If you don't trust me, I'll let you bring all the relics together if that's what you want," she stated.

Roman and Glynda gasped at that. Roman looked nervous.

"Sally, if the gods came back and saw you, that'd mean we'd die," he said. She nodded.

"I am aware. As would all the people in this tower. And everyone beyond it as well. Every single one. Is that what _you're _willing to put on the line Ozma?" she asked the wizard.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as his shoulders relaxed slightly. He opened his eyes and the fight in them was all but gone, somehow managing to make Oscar's young face look generations older with just his eyes. He shook his head with a humorless, defeated chuckle.

"So many years, so many wasted lives, and all it took was a random chance at taking in some thief I took off the streets to get you to make this happen," he said.

"Hey, I'm not _some thief! _I'm _the _greatest thief of all time!" Roman declared. Glynda smacked her hand over his mouth. Salem chuckled.

"Have you ever had a conversation with the man? He's very good with words," she replied. There was a bark of laughter, that soon devolved into a fit of hysterics.

The room was shocked silent as Glynda laughed out loud. It was long and drawn out, and she clearly found the statement hilarious as she continued laughing. Every now and then she would point at Roman as she laughed, just to emphasize what she thought was so funny. Once it started getting awkward she finally caught her breath.

"Wow, _ouch _Glyn. Way to hurt a guys feelings..." Roman mumbled, disposition hurt. She just looked at him and turned slightly towards Salem.

"You want to talk about _feelings _do you? Did he tell you about his new _find_?" she asked. Salem raised an eyebrow and turned to him. Glynda turned her eyes on him as well.

"Roman, what does she mean?" the queen asked. The room grew a little colder.

"Ah! Well... ya see—" Roman felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked down to meet Ozpin's eyes.

"Good luck my friend. You will _absolutely_ need it," the wizard said, zero remorse in his words. He turned and opened the doors, leaving the room. As he did he called out into the halls.

"Oh Ms. Willow? Roman asked of you in the throne room!" Ozpin called. Roman shot the man a betrayed look and Ozpin spared him one last glance.

"In all fairness Roman," he said as he started walking down the hall, "you did fuck my wife."

Roman slowly turned and was met with Glynda _and _Salem glaring at him now.

"And just _who _is this Willow?" the queen asked. Roman chuckled.

"Well, it's not like that— it's really just like—" he was cut off as the white haired woman entered the room.

"I'm here as you requested Mr. Torchwick," she said, a hint of something sensual to her voice.

"_My gods the woman is forty percent ass,_" Salem whispered. Glynda nodded, a slightly defeated look on her face. It seemed the Schnee children took after their father in looks. The woman was as... _well equipped_ as they came.

"Would this be the Salem you told me about?" she asked, not hearing the woman.

"Uh, yeah. This is Salem. Salem this is Willow. She's rich and has a giant ass— personality," he said. Everyone ignored his correction in the middle.

"She's very beautiful," Willow said as she gazed upon Salem, not a hint of deception in her voice.

"You truly think so?" Salem asked. The woman bowed slightly and hummed.

"I've seen the nastiest of people at dinner parties and galas," she said softly, "you're hardly the scariest person I've laid eyes on."

Salem let out a deep, hearty chuckle at this. The woman wasn't half bad. She could allow this as well, she supposed.

"So," Salem said as she stood, directing her attention towards the thief, "it seems we've allowed you to become greedy."

The doors and windows glowed before they slammed shut. He felt a chill go up his spine.

"Yes," Glynda added as she stalked forward towards him, "it appears a certain degree of respect and communication needs to be established."

When had his jacket come off? And his belt? He watched his hat levitate off his head, a purple aura surrounding it. Ah. That explained it.

"I must say," he froze as he felt Willow lay her hands on his shoulders, "I didn't think this would happen so soon. But they're right. I hardly want to be a part of anything if it means these two lovely ladies are hurt in the process."

"Perhaps I misjudged you Willow, you have my respect yet," Glynda stated.

What was happening soon? What respect!? He was tired! He needed a bed and a day of rest!

When he felt the Schnee matriarch press her breasts to his back, followed shortly by Glynda's and Salem's own breasts on his arms, he realized very quickly what was happening.

He would not be getting the rest he wanted.

He would likely be awake for a day or two. Even that was generous, all things considered.

"Uh, what's the safe word?" he squeaked.

"Harder," they all replied in unison.

It was then that most would say Roman was one of the luckiest men on the planet.

How wrong those unknowing fools were. This wasn't luck. It wasn't skill either.

This was a death sentence.

"I... think I've bitten off more than I can chew," he said slowly.

As he felt the remainder of his clothes leave his body and several hands grab several parts of his body, he could only really say that he'd had a good run.

* * *

Neo had her knees bent, wagging the toy in front of Chew, who was poised and ready for her to throw it again. She did so and he bounded off happily, bringing the stick back and shaking it viciously before dropping it at her feet again.

"I can't believe you guys steal a magical relic, capable of creating infinite and endless amounts of power and all manner of things, _and you're using it as a dog toy,_" Weiss chastised, watching as Neo once again threw the staff of creation for Chew, who happily brought it back as he'd been doing for the last twenty minutes.

"What's wrong with that?" Ruby asked, "If it can create anything then we're just using it to create fun for our dog!"

Be it from just how ridiculous the situation had gotten or from the sheer shock that somehow, as Ozpin had come back to inform them all, the war was over, none of them had the presence of mind to press the matter further.

"So it's really all over? Just like that?" Qrow asked the wizard, who was reclined comfortably in an armchair.

"Hm. The Grimm will most certainly still roam and attack those in their way or who exude enough negativity, so they will need to be stopped. But yes, it appears the war is over," he concluded.

"Did we win?" Yang asked.

"More like we didn't lose," Ozpin corrected.

Not lose. That was like a win right? Close enough anyways. And none of them died! Score!

"And all it took was that lucky bastard fucking his way through the mist powerful women in the world," Qrow groused. Ozpin laughed.

"I wouldn't say he's lucky. Certainly not now at the very least," the ancient soul claimed.

The screams of pain, pleasure perhaps but certainly not in their entirety, could be heard as Oscar walked away from the throne room. Ozpin did not feel sorrow for the man. He had dug his own grave.

"At any rate, if you have need of me I'll be present. It's high time I let Oscar have his life back," he said as his eyes glowed and his body slumped a little. Oscar blinked a few times as he took in his surroundings.

"Is anyone going to explain any of this to me?" Whitley asked as he sat and very tentatively stroked Dante, who dwarfed the boy by a large margin.

"Well brother, it all starts, apparently, with a very complicated love life," Weiss started.

"Ya know what," Nora cut her off, "it actually can all be summed up as a very complicated love life."

The others all voiced their agreement in various ways. Oscar winced a little as the man in his head bristled.

"That... still explains nothing," Whitley said, even more confused.

"Later," Weiss promised, "I think we can all agree that we need a break from thinking about all of this."

Once again agreement rang throughout the room.

"Hey I have a question," Jaune began, "if Roman's got your mom in there with him, does that make you and Neo like step sisters?"

Neo and Weiss slowly turned to one another. Both had gone pale at not only the thought of their respective parental figures having sex, but going so far as to get married in their strange, polyamorous relationship. Both wretched at the same time.

"Jaune, perhaps that was _too soon?" _Pyrrha elbowed him in the side. He coughed into his hand and looked away. The others all laughed and continued talking. Neo absentmindedly threw the staff again.

Chew once again brought it back and shook his head back and forth. This time however, Neo was staring off into space as she sat cross-legged on the floor.

"Neo?" Ruby asked quietly, making sure nobody else was listening, "you okay?"

She blinked the surprise away. She'd spaced pretty hard there. It was because she was thinking. Thinking about how strange she and Romans lives had gotten. Better for sure, but different in almost every way.

They still had each other, and judging by how much Salem had taken a liking to her, they'd still be together until the end. But now they had a new family too.

They were dumb, dysfunctional, loud, and overall tactless, but they'd all grown on her. As she stared down at Chew, staff of creation in his mouth and not a care in the world, she smiled. She turned to Ruby.

_I'm fine. Just thinking about everything, _she told the young reaper. Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, it's been pretty crazy," she said, "what are you gonna do now though?"

Neo placed a finger to her chin and looked up. That was a good question. She had no desire to go back to the criminal life, especially since she literally had the choice to live in a castle, but she also wasn't the type to sit in one place for too long.

_What are you gonna do? _she asked instead. Ruby hummed and leaned against the mute girl.

"Well you heard Ozpin! Grimm are still gonna attack people. And since the Grimm listen to me now I can be a huntress _and _a Grimm whisperer! So I'll probably still do the whole 'go around and save people's thing," she reasoned. Neo nodded. That was about as much of a Ruby answer as she'd been expecting.

"And just think!" Ruby said jumping to her feet, "I can find a gryphon or something and fly around on it! I'll be like an angel of battle and death!"

Neo rolled her eyes and swatted the girls rear, making her temp and blush as Neo stood. She smirked at the reaper and flicked her forehead.

_You're a weird one, _she told her. Ruby just smiled goofily and kissed her cheek.

"Yep! But I'm also _you're _weird one," she said. Neo just rolled her eyes again. This girl was just as strange as the day they'd met. She found that she didn't mind all that much.

Yang shoved her way between the two and three her arms around their shoulders. She was smirking at both. Ruby was blushing while Neo smirked challengingly into the brawler's eyes.

"As cute as you two are, what do we do now?" Yang asked.

"I have your answer actually," someone called from the hallway.

"Who are you?" Blake asked skeptically. The man bowed.

"Arthur Watts, at your service," he greeted.

"The guy that Jimmy said was dead?" Qrow asked. Watts snickered into his hand.

"The very same, though it fills me with joy to know that James still despises me that much," he claimed, genuinely sounding proud of the fact.

"So what's this about then?" Qrow asked.

"Well you all would be hard pressed to return to the real world anytime soon unless you want to incur the wrath of Atlas upon you," he stated. They all winced at that.

They'd all technically just become enemies of humanity, hadn't they?

"However, since her majesty seems like she'll be taking a break from any scheming, she has told me to extend an invitation to all of you."

"An invitation?" Blake asked.

"You want us to join the forces of Salem?" Ren asked, straight to the point as always.

"Well there's not quite any _force _to join anymore," he mused, "but yes. Her majesty extends the olive branch to all of you that she will make sure no harm comes of you as you all filter back into society on the grounds of keeping her existence a secret."

"She doesn't want anyone to know about her then?" Pyrrha asked. Watts looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"Would we have had a thousand Grimm drag James's glorified cellular tower into the backyard if she didn't want people knowing about her?" he asked.

Ah. That was fair.

"At any rate, you'll not be asked to do anything but pretend that none of this ever happened," he concluded.

"And if we declined?" Blake asked. He chuckled.

"Likeliest answer? Death," he said simply.

"We accept happily," Jaune said quickly. The others nodded as well.

"Wonderful! Welcome to the family then," he said as he turned and left.

"What a _lovely _individual," Miltia scoffed.

"But hey, an offers an offer. We had to get back to Junior and mom eventually," Melanie said.

As they talked and relaxed from the stresses of the time they'd spent together since Ruby first bumped into the thieves, they staunchly ignored Roman's cries for help as he was dragged from the throne room towards the master bedroom.

Neo was excited to travel the world with her new family. She knew Roman would be proud.

* * *

James considered himself a calm man, and one who knew when not to react too harshly to certain situations.

"I'LL BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

Currently he'd even say that this was a mild reaction, all things considered.

"General Ironwood, I apologize that I was unable to best Goodwitch in combat," Winter said morosely, one arm in a sling from her fight with the witch. James let out a grumble, the best he could do to console the specialist.

After all, he was also down an arm due to Glynda. The woman could match the maidens in pure carnage when she felt like it. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his real arm (and subsequently his only arm at the moment).

"Winter, there was nothing that could be done. Between Torchwicks cunning and Goodwitchs and Qrows raw ability there was little that could be done," he said in a commanding tone, reeling himself in for the first time in the last two days.

One day ago, Roman Torchwick, under what he was sure was the orders of Salem, had stolen the staff of creation and swapped it with a stone that he only could assume would do something devastating. As if to spit in his face, he even somehow managed to steal the _entire _Amity project and drag it god knows where.

The stone was being watched by the ace-ops at all times, but what brought up more questions was why Atlas had yet to fall. Was it the stone? Or was there leftover energy from the staff that they hadn't anticipated? It wasn't like they could study magic and considering Roman had stolen Ozpin away too, it wasn't like they could ask.

Not to mention that a solid thirty percent of the academy had been completely and totally destroyed and was unable to be insured due to the insurance not covering "regular giant dogs" and only accounting for giant Grimm dogs.

Yes, in every way possible, Atlas had lost. And almost all to one man.

They still had the maiden, but what use was that when Salem had her own maiden and two relics? Not to mention that Roman had somehow stolen Willow Schnee and all her assets (and by the way the woman had been eyeing the crook, _all _of her _assets_) which meant the only thing keeping him from being the richest man in the world alongside the most wanted man on the planet was Jacques still technically being married to Willow.

"At least they don't have any economic sway..." he mumbled. There was a ding and Winter raised an eyebrow as she pulled out her scroll. Her eyes widened in shock at the sheer length of the message, but she nearly dropped her scroll when she reached a particular line.

Winter coughed and held up the scroll for him to read. It was a message from her father.

James wanted to scream all over again, but by this point it just came out as an undignified groan of defeat.

The message from Jacques was a wall of text and insults, but none of that mattered more than the one line in all capital letters.

_YOUR MOTHER DIVORCED ME AND TOOK ALL THE COMPANY FUNDING!_

Which meant that Roman _was _now the richest man on the planet.

He was about to ask Winter if she would do him the kind honor of tossing him off of Atlas when his own scroll rang. They both tensed. Nobody should be able to call him right now. Especially considering his scroll was encrypted and only private personnel could contact him.

He slowly opened the device, glaring at the screen and hoping for all that was holy that it was one of the ace-ops.

It was an unrecognized number.

He nearly crushed the device in his hand.

Fearing nothing more to lose however he answered the call. He was surprised to see Ozpin, or Oscar, on the other end of the call. He appeared to be speaking with somebody.

"— _are you positive the call will go through? I know you said you could hack your way in but that doesn't mean that James will just—ah. Nevermind he picked up. Very well, thank you Arthur," _Ozpin said as he looked off screen.

"_Doctor Watts," _Watts corrected.

"_Arthur,_" Ozpin said back. There was a scoff and a door slamming before Ozpin looked back towards the general.

"_Hello James. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye upon my last visit, I was preoccupied," _he said casually.

"Ozpin what the hell is going on!?" James shouted, causing the wizard to wince slightly and rub his ear.

"_Yes that is a fair reaction I suppose,_" he said.

"Fair reaction? FAIR REACTION!?" he raged, "Do you have any idea the state that this city is in right now!? How much danger the world is in!?"

"_From my conversation with Salem yesterday, not a lot of danger, actually,_" he informed.

"What?" James spat.

"_Well, it went like this,_" Ozpin began.

Ten minutes later and James was sitting on the floor, slumped against his desk and nursing a bottle of whiskey.

"My school destroyed, my country up in arms, my trust shattered... and all of it was solved because Torchwick _fucked the problem away?_" he asked incredulously.

"_I'd rather not be reminded that my ex wife has moved on, but yes, that about sums it up," _Ozpin claimed.

"I must be dead."

"_I assure you, you're not."_

James rubbed the back of his hand down his face, the cold bottle soothing the headache that had formed due to a lack of sleep and an abundance of rage.

"What now then?" he groaned. Were all his efforts in vain? Had he spent the last decade of his life worried about nothing?

"_Well she has agreed to sway the Grimm away from the kingdoms but has told me that there is no way to be rid of them permanently. The Academies will still be needed to assist villages and outside settlements."_

"Just like that?" he asked, void of emotion and dull to the world.

"_As unbelievable as it sounds; just like that," _the wizard replied, managing to make Oscar's voice sound every bit his age.

James stared out the window. A giant nevermore was flying towards the city, likely from the massive amount of negativity caused by the explosions and gunfire throughout the academy. Once the giant thing got close enough to the city it slowly circled back and flew the opposite direction.

"Just like that," he mumbled as he watched the bird Grimm fly away from the negativity.

"_There are obviously other matters to discuss, but I would rather do them in person. Salem's forces have agreed to leave the children to return to society so long as they say nothing of her existence. I will be returning with them," _he explained.

James assumed he had nodded. He didn't quite know. He was so out of it that he didn't even register that he had the bottle to his lips for the last twenty seconds. Was this how Qrow felt? He understood the man so much better now.

"_My apologies for involving you in all of this James. But rest assured, the war is over."_

"And who's the victor?"

"_There's not so much a victor, more like there is no loser."_

Apt, the general thought.

"You and your students better help the revival efforts here in Atlas," he said tiredly. Ozpin nodded.

"_They'll do so. Likely begrudgingly, but you can rest assured they'll help. The one's returning with me at least," _he claimed. Ironwood raised an eyebrow at that.

"Who's staying?"

"_Roman for obvious reasons. It appears Glynda wishes to remain as well. There will be much travelling with Ms Politan and the Schnee children to see their... families," _he said, grimacing at the mention that Roman had quickly become the technical husband to three of the most powerful women on the planet, in their own ways.

"Does Willow have any intention of resuming the SDC's mining operations?" he asked. They'd still need dust, regardless of if it was being used for weaponry or not.

"_The reigns have been passed to her children. All three of them. Effective immediately, she has claimed,_" he told the man. Winter finally reacted verbally at the revelation.

"What!?" she shrieked.

"_Ah, hello Ms Schnee. Congratulations on you and your siblings new promotions. May you do better with the SDC than your father did," _he said nonchalantly.

James nearly laughed at the rainbow of emotions the specialist went through before she grumbled and shrunk into herself. She threw out a quick "thank you" but no more.

"Anything else I should worry about?" James asked, finally feeling exhaustion catch up to him.

"_Other than the fact that, by technicality, Ms Politan is now a princess? No," _the wizard shivered. James frowned. That was definitely one of the most harrowing thoughts he could have. Did they have to extend diplomatic immunity to her!?

"_For all it is worth James," _Ozpin stated as he stood and prepared to hang up, "_thank you for fighting with me all these years."_

James smirked. It was small, and due to his current haggard appearance, it looked somewhat pained, but it was genuine.

"We finally got that peace you wanted," he said.

"_Indeed we have,_" the ancient man sighed. The call ended a moment later.

"Sir! What are our next orders?" Winter asked, ever the astute specialist. He shook his head, a small smile gracing his features.

"Take a short vacation Winter. We have to regroup and rebuild. And you have a new role to take care of," he smirked at the last part. She frowned.

"I think I will offer my third of the company to Weiss and Whitley. They'll do more with it than me," she said. He shook his head but didn't argue with the woman. After all, who was he to turn away his best soldier?

"Plus I now have to come to terms with the fact that _Roman Torchwick _is now my step father," she said, turning green.

That managed to get a laugh out of the general.

* * *

Roman looked off of the balcony of the tower at the stars. He was without his hat or jacket and was smoking a cigar. It had been a strange run for him. Got a job, became a huntsman, had sex with three different insanely hot women at the same time, became a traitor to humanity, all in the span of about two years.

Overall, still not as hectic as his academy years.

He heard someone walk up behind him and come to stand beside him. He turned slightly to see Glynda stood there, clothes barely hanging off her body.

They said nothing to each other, but he was shocked when she stole his cigar away and took a drag before handing it back. She noticed his look and glared lazily as she let the smoke fall from her lips.

"You're not the only one who needs a smoke after sex," she snarked. He laughed and shrugged.

"Never thought I'd see the day where such a goody-two-shoes smoked with the criminal," he teased. She swiped at him but it was lacking any aggression. No, that had all been spent in the last day in the bedroom.

"We technically are now both criminals for the same thing," she pointed out.

"Aht aht aht, but _I _made the plan," he claimed.

"And I saved your sorry ass in every phase," she retorted.

They were silent for a moment before it was broken by soft laughter.

"It's been a weird one," he said. She hummed and leaned against him.

"Yes, but with you I have a feeling that's the norm," she said.

He laughed. That was fair. Weird was normal for him.

"Hasn't turned you away yet," he boasted.

"Hmm," she hummed.

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. That wasn't her normal snark.

"What?" he asked. She played with one of her curls.

"I was late last week," she said calmly.

"Late for what?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"Not late Roman. _Late,_" she reiterated. He blinked and stayed quiet for a moment.

Wait a minute.

"Wha...?" he asked. She sighed and looked at him again.

"I think I'm pregnant," she said, ripping the band aid off all at once.

He just stared at her.

Pregnant?

"Are you—"

"It's likely."

"Ah."

They were silent again.

"Well... Neo is going to have a day with that information," he said after a while. She scoffed and looked up at him, still leaning on his side.

"No freaking out or running away?" she asked. He looked at her in indignation.

"I'm a criminal, not a scumbag! Besides, if you were staying with me after a threesome like _that _I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be leaving one another any time soon," he pointed out. She just stared at him in disbelief for a moment before smiling and lightly slapping his shoulder.

"You are an enigma Roman," she whispered.

"And you're just as strange for sticking around," he said back.

They stood on the balcony for a while longer, talking into the night and discussing what parental life would be like. Roman assured her that one kid was enough for him for now and that he only had to deal with Neo _after _she was a baby so he never had to deal with kids like that before.

They both agreed not to tell Salem for a while.

That woman would want her own.

\/\/\/\/\/

* * *

/\/\/\/\/\

Grimm.

The creatures of darkness were indeed strange. They were drawn to negativity and were said to be mindless, only having the destruction of humanity in mind.

That seemed like a pretty narrow mindset, she thought to herself as she shooed the giant ursa major away from the village outskirts.

"Oh thank you miss! I don't know how you did it but all the Grimm have turned tail and fled! Please, accept anything we can give you, it's the least we can do!" the mayor of the village said to her.

She was about to ask if she could have all the money from the nearest establishment but someone slapped a hand over her arms before she could fish out her scroll.

"Helping is just what we do! Right babe?" the woman next to her asked, a dangerous glint in her eyes. Even though they were currently tied for fights right now, she was sure she could sway that in her favor again. Regardless, she didn't argue when she used the 'be a good person' eyes on her.

As the villagers thanked them they walked out of the village and towards the city. It wasn't a far walk but it was dangerous for civilians. It wasn't as dangerous to them because they were hunters.

Well, that and they had the blessing of a particular magical woman.

"Neo, what have I said about harassing people we save for money!?" Ruby asked as they walked through the woods. She had grown over the years, and while she was taller than Neo before, she stood even taller now, especially when she wore her boots.

Her new outfit followed the same color scheme as her one from when they'd first met, but the hood was much shorter now, a result of the wear and tear of travelling for so long. She wore two now though, one the hood her mother gave her, the other the cape her uncle once wore.

He lost it in a bet when she said she could out scythe him now.

"_Well I just assumed that a little extra cash woulda been nice!" _Neo replied, her new scroll reading the text out much more fluidly. It even had a new voice courtesy of Watts. It sounded just as cute as she looked and she had made sure he had gotten it right!

She wore a longer jacket now, having taken a page out of her dad's book and getting a longer coat. It was still white, but unlike her dad's it had four pockets on the outside, two by her breasts and the other two near the bottom front of the coat. The top two pockets were brown and the bottom two were pink. She also wore boots that made her taller but was, unfortunately, still the shortest person among all their friends.

"I swear if you teach your siblings that stuff I will never forgive you! Or them!" Ruby claimed.

Neo feigned hurt but waved her off.

"_Relax babe, I would never. Besides, Glyn would totally beat my ass, and not in the way you did the other night," _she smirked at the way the reaper still blushed. Never got any less funny.

As they returned to the city civilians pointed in awe at the two women.

"It's the Rose and Thorn!"

"They're so cool!"

"And hot!"

Neo puffed up with every compliment while Ruby shrunk in. They were like night and day with the praise.

"Are we still meeting everyone today?' Ruby mumbled, smiling awkwardly as she waved at a group of teens pointing their way.

"_Should be,_" Neo said as they neared the bullheads that would take them out of Vale and into Beacon II.

It was actually still called Beacon on forms and in the news and stuff, but people had begun colloquially referring to the rebuilt school as Beacon II. It meant more to the huntsman than it did to the politicians.

As they rode up to the school they took in the city below. The kingdoms had all expanded in the last fifteen years, the lack of Grimm attacking the kingdoms was enough for people to start moving further out. There were even plans to go and salvage the wreckage of Mountain Glenn!

Of course, the Grimm were still a problem. They circled the kingdoms but never entered. This still left the villages unprotected and many families broken. As a result the Huntsman academies remained an important part of Remnant.

As they looked out over the rebuilt Beacon, they stared at the tower, looking nearly identical to the one from their own time there.

The bullhead landed and they stepped out. It was summer, so there weren't any students around. Huntsman still filed about, sending the two nods or waves of respect. Under the recommendation of the new headmaster, many huntsmen now reported to each academy's headmaster in order to prevent the disaster that was Haven all those years ago. If someone like Leonardo could circumvent background checks by passing it through the council then it was important that huntsmen got their missions directly from the source.

The two looked around for a moment before they heard hollering.

"RUBY! NEO! OVER HERE!" a ginger girl waved and jumped. Beside her, a raven haired man stood passively, not even flinching at the volume.

"Nora! Ren!" Ruby called as they went over. Ren nodded to the two, a small smile on his face. Nora jumped one final time, landing with her hands on her hips.

"It's about time!" she claimed as she stared the two down, "Almost everyone else is already here!"

"Sorry! We got caught up helping a village on the outskirts!" Ruby laughed as she scratched the back of her head. Neo shook her head and sent the two a quick hello. They replied in kind.

"We should probably hurry," Ren said, "Jaune likely has his hands full and needs our help. Again."

They all chatted as they walked deeper into the school grounds. When they reached the gardens it was to find a group of people gathered.

"Look who decided to finally show up! Late!" a woman in white claimed as she stood rigid and straight.

"Easy Weiss. If you don't pull that stick out your ass you'll get constipated," Yang said as she stood and slung an arm around the icy woman's shoulder. She huffed harder in spite of her. Beside them, on a small bench was jaune and Pyrrha, both looking like gods of battle in their armor.

"Hey guys!" Jaune greeted, "How ya do—Bleu! Put that down!" he scrambled off the bench to chase a little girl who was trying to eat a butterfly on a stick. Pyrrha giggled into her hand as she watched her husband wrangle their daughter.

"What took you guys?" Yang asked as she finally let go of Weiss who sneered at her and straightened her prim outfit out.

"_Somebody's hero senses were tingling,_" Neo said. They all got a laugh out of that. Three people in particular walked over to Neo and pulled her into a hug.

"How ya doing oh leader of ours?" Mercury asked. The man had eased up even more over the years if at all possible. He'd also lost an arm, now being three fourths prosthetic limbs. He always claimed "I'm handling this better than Yang would if _she _lost her arm".

"Yeah bitch, we barely hear from you when your on the road," Miltia said.

"And don't even think about saying that there's no signal out there!" Melanie added. The twins had acquired more accessories over the years, a choice that Mercury told them was impractical but that they said made them look like queens.

"The twins are right," someone else piped up. Ruby and Neo turned to see Blake walk over, a mug in hand. Evidently she had gotten bored waiting and had left to get tea. Her ears were on display and she had since gotten a piercing like her mothers in her left ear.

"Since Weiss and her brother took over the SDC progression on out of kingdom technologies has nearly tripled," the faunus stated. Weiss stood a little taller at that.

"Yes, that would be Whitley's doing. He handles the company well while I supervise our bigger developments," she said proudly. Yang mimicked talking with her hand, which Weiss, without turning around, slapped away. They all chuckled at that.

"_I'd call more if it weren't for _somebody _having a knack for getting us into every fight she sees,_" Neo said. They all slowly looked at a whistling ruby, who was very interested in the sky. That earned another round of laughs and a red Ruby.

"I gotta say kiddo," a slightly raspy, snide voice called from behind, "I didn't think I'd beat ya here."

Neo turned and dashed, not even waiting to see who it was before she leapt and tackled them in a hug.

"Damnit Neo I'm old now! You can't be doing this shit!" Roman said as he held the girl aloft in a hug. Someone cleared their throat angrily from his side and they all froze. As ever, Glynda's stare held an intensity that matched no other force on the planet.

"Ooooooh," a short girl by Glynda's side teased. "Dad said a swear word!"

She had ginger hair, lighter than Roman's and roughly the same length. It curled naturally like Glynda's and framed her face. Her eyes were a striking green and she had a cheshire grin that screamed "I'm better than you".

"Where's the swear jar mother?" a boy asked from Glynda's other side. He was blonde but his hair was much shorter, cut in a clean and uniform way. He had a small piercing in his ear that matched Glynda's earring and held the same eyes as the girl opposite of him.

"_I know,_" Neo said as she let go of Roman and ran over to the two teens, putting her arms around their shoulders, "_such language!"_

"Neo, I may be old and, according to your sister, getting kinda dad fat, nut I will still whoop your ass," he threatened. Glynda scoffed and gave him a look and he coughed.

"Ash," she said to the girl, "Merlin," she said to the boy, "Excuse your father," Glynda said to the two teens, "he's just as tactless as the day I met him."

Roman humphed and pointed to a statue in the courtyard. It was of him, standing in a relaxed way with Melodic Cudgel in hand and a cigar in the other. It was made of gold.

"Does that look tactless? They made that statue after I blew up the Emerald Forest during the attack on Beacon!" he said proudly. They all stared at him in deadpan and Glynda rubbed her temples.

Suddenly there was a woof and Neo snapped up. She crouched down and caught a speeding mountain of dog. Dante strolled over daintily after, looking the same as he did before. Grimm didn't do a whole lot of changing in such a short amount of time.

"Chew! Dante!" Ruby cheered as she leaned down and pet the dog. He barked. It was deeper and reverberated through the air and the body.

"For an old dog he's holding up pretty well," Yang claimed. Roman waved her off.

"Lucky bastard has aura and doesn't have to deal with kids all day long," he moaned, causing Glynda to elbow in the side, making him straighten up, "which is fine because I love these little bastards!"

"Smooth dad," Ash said as she and her brother walked over to hug Neo. The mute girl hugged her siblings happily, never having gotten tired of the two. When Roman had told her she'd be getting siblings she was a little hurt. But now? These two were too cool to be upset about. Especially when they'd use their tiny hands to grab things that she couldn't! Not that she ever told Ruby or _especially _told Gynda.

"Good to see everyone can still gather like this," a new voice said. They turned and saw a man with olive skin and freckles and a small beard. He stood tall and had filled out well, his arms looking strong and looking like he had worked on a farm all his life.

Well, he had worked on a farm for a long time.

"Is that you kid? Or is that the old man?" Roman asked. Oscar smiled.

"It's me. Oz said he'd talk when he felt like it," Oscar said as he strolled up to the group. The boy had been offered the seat of headmaster by all of them but he'd turned it down. Ozpin said he'd have much more purpose as a huntsman than sitting in an office all day. Ozpin had already had a headmaster in mind and it had shocked everyone, the new headmaster included.

Speaking of which...

"Does anyone know if Hazel is in today?" Oscar asked.

"Yeah, Glyn and I ran into him earlier, he asked about Nyx," Roman said. Oscar nodded. Nyx was Neo's third sibling and Salem's daughter. Weiss shivered and thanked the Brother's that Roman and her mother never had kids. That would've been terrifying.

Hazel had initially wanted to murder Ozpin when the man suggested he be the new headmaster. When Ozpin told the man it was a chance to prevent more people from dying like his sister had the man almost accepted immediately. Likely to show Ozpin that it could be done without losing any students.

Reverse psychology. Never failed.

"Well now the gangs all here," Roman said, "let's get a move on then, I don't need these two barking up my ass that they're bored."

Ash and Merlin argued with their dad, who gladly argued back. This in turn dragged Neo into the argument, which also prompted Glynda to start yelling at all of them.

It was as hectic as ever.

But not once did any of them seem to care.

* * *

**And scene.**

**Well this is certainly new for me. I never planned on this fic getting the amount of attention that it did, let alone did I expect to pump out this much for it! I gotta say, it's weird to see it off. Like writing any other fic now will seem wrong in some ways.**

**Thing I loved most about this story is just how easy it was for me to get into it. Originally, I planned a much shorter story, just to dip my toes in the water so to speak.**

**But when I got into it and saw how much people liked it? I just felt like I had to keep going.**

**And that's what started wearing down on me about this story.**

**I felt like I kept needing to add more to it. I know I don't have to and that I am not obligated by anyone to, but I felt like I had to keep doing more every time. When I was writing this chapter out though I had a really big moment of realization.**

**You guys are too damn cool for me to care.**

**You all made writing this fic worth every word. Every joke, scene, and wacky ass take on a character was received so well by y'all and I never hated a moment of this fic.**

**Sometimes it got a little cracky, sometimes it got a little steamy, but in the end, I can look back and say that I am happy to have written this story for you all and for myself.**

**STAY TUNED! My next story "Talk About A Role Reversal" will be starting soon, I am still figuring out how I want to do certain things with it. Overall I have it mostly planned out, I just have to implement everything. Exciting!**

**Thank you so much for favoriting, following, and reviewing.**

**I hope you all have a wonderful time, and stay happy, healthy, and hopeful.**

**And for the final time (unless I decide to do it in TAaRR)...**

**Please,**

**Don't bite off more than you can chew.**

**You'll get there eventually.**


	31. Announcement!

Hello everyone! This story is over and done with! This is a update saying that my new story, "Talk About a Role Reversal" is now out! Please consider giving it a read! Thank you all for your support!


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